Weres Harry?
by DobbyElfLord
Summary: Dark curses don't play nice- not even with each other. When nine year-old Harry is bitten by a werewolf, the horcrux fights back. The result could only happen to Harry Potter. Canon-ish for the first three years of Hogwarts - AU from that point forward.
1. Werewolf of Hogwarts

This started as a one-shot that came from a plot bunny that wouldn't leave me alone. I think it spawned one night when I was reading Anne Rice's new werewolf story. (Okay story with a blah ending. It was too much like reading Vampire Lestat and jumping to the end of Queen of the Damned for the last chapters.) This story however has nothing to do with that story.

Edited on: 26 June 2012

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.**

**Werewolf of Hogwarts**

19 June, 1989

"But uncle, where am I supposed to go?"

The large, fat man's face purpled at the child's plaintive question. "I don't care, you little freak! I just want you out of this house well before the Howards are due to arrive. The Bolson account is too important to risk even stuffing you into the cupboard. Now get out!"

The tiny boy flinched back from the oafish figure of his uncle before scurrying out the door. His uncle didn't hit him often but it was best not to take chances. The one-time to the emergency room for a broken arm was enough for both the boy and the man. The man didn't want too many questions about the source of the boy's injuries and the boy didn't want to talk about it. So now the man relied solely on emotional and verbal abuse coupled with subsistence level feeding.

In most ways, the physical pain was easier to tolerate.

-I-

The park was dark and abandoned when little Harry Potter sat swinging aimlessly. The sun had long since set and the moon was rising to bath the park in shades of grey. The park was completely quiet save for the metal screeching's of the swing as it moved slowly back and forth. In fact it was almost supernaturally quiet. No sounds of distant cars or voices. No bats or owls or other creatures of the night going about their business. Not even any wind. Just a still calmness and a lonely boy on a swing.

Harry was too wrapped up in his internal musings to consider the stillness around him.

He tried to be a good boy and get his aunt and uncle's acceptance and approval. Harry was called a 'cheat' when his grades were better than his cousin Dudley's. He was branded a 'hooligan' and 'bully' for the actions of his cousin and his cousin's little gang of friends. No one ever saw Harry do anything wrong but was more than willing to believe every lie spread about him by his relatives.

It would be many years before Harry learnt the cause of this acceptance was an unintentional side-effect of protections placed on him by his mother and sealed when he was sent to live with his aunt. This effect would last until his magical maturity at age 17.

The protections were meant to shield Harry from magical beings with harmful intent; especially the one that triggered the protections: The Dark Lord Voldemort. Lily Potter created the protections but it was the Killing Curse from the most powerful wizard in almost a millennium that activated them. The protections would repel the Dark Lord and his followers for as long as Harry Potter lived with his mother's blood. When he was at his aunt's house, the Voldemort and his Death Eaters could not even approach the house. Away from the house, the protections still gave him an edge; making his very touches deadly to the Dark Lord.

Unfortunately, the protections had an unintended side-effect. Lord Voldemort's deep hatred for his prophesized opponent infected the protections he'd unwittingly activated. It acted as something of a Confundus Charm or hypnotic suggestion on those magical weaker than the one to trigger the protections. Since Voldemort was impossibly strong, this meant everyone outside of Lily Potter's blood relations was impacted to some degree. Now this side-effect was neutral by itself. It was Petunia Dursley that made it a negative. By spreading maliciously rumours and lies about her nephew, Petunia created a magical predisposition to accept a negative view of the small boy on the flimsiest of evidence. Thus teachers, neighbours and doctors all ignored the obvious signs of abuse. Later this easy acceptance of negative information would influence the students of Hogwarts and the wider magical population during Harry's school years.

Only those with over-whelming positive emotions towards the boy would manage to overcome the Confundus-like effects. The stronger the positive emotion the weaker the protection's side-effects were. This would cause the wildly fluctuating public opinion during the boy's teen years.

But Harry wouldn't learn this for many years. For now he was just a small boy alone in the darkened park feeling sorry for himself.

-II-

The first sign Harry noticed that all was not right in the park was the low growling coming from just inside the tree line of the small forest that bordered the park. Years of dealing with the various dogs of his uncle's sister made Harry understandably wary of strange dogs. Harry loved dogs but he'd learnt to keep a safe distance until he'd learned if they were friendly or not.

Harry dismounted the swing and started to slowly back away from the growling sounds. Now he could see sickly yellow eyes of the dog reflecting in the full moon's light. Harry knew that if he turned and ran the dog would chase him down. Instead he continued backing away as quickly as he safely could. Harry may have received poor grades but he paid attention in science class. A dog with eyes like that could likely have rabies or some other disease. Rabies wasn't supposed to exist in Britain but it was better to be safe than sorry.

Harry had managed to place several metres between himself and the treeline when the creature suddenly tore out of the brush. Harry only had a brief impression of slathering jaws and growling as he quickly turned and sprinted for all he was worth. The only though in his mind was to get away.

Harry leapt over the see-saw when the beast caught him by the ankle. Pain shot through the boy as the teeth crushed his ankle like a paper cup. The beast wrenched its head around flinging Harry back the way he came.

Through the pain and panic, one thought screamed in Harry's brain. 'I need to get away, NOW!'

Harry hit the ground in long soft grass but he sensed a wall of some type behind him. He instinctively curled up into a ball to protect himself but no attack came. After what seemed an instant and an eternity simultaneously, Harry forced himself to look up.

He was someplace else. It wasn't the park. It was his school yard. How did he get here? Where did the beast go?

That is when the pain hit.

It felt like liquid fire was rushing through his veins bringing pain to his whole body. Harry wanted to scream but was in so much pain he couldn't inhale to do that.

Then it got worse.

The liquid fire had almost completely enveloped his body when it reached the odd lightning-bolt shaped scar on his forehead. The fire's spread seemed to pause for a moment and the pain lessened. Then the scar erupted; spraying blood over the boy. A cold blackness started to push back at the liquid fire. The blackness burned with its coldness as badly as the liquid fire. Where they clashed was hell on Earth.

The agony forced Harry's immature magical core to react. It had automatically contained the intruder trapped inside the scar for years. Now a new intruder was attacking. A three-way battle ensued between the magical core and the two magical infections. The three forces struggled in a swirl of battle though out the boy's body.

In the end the small fragment of the Dark Lord's soul lodged in the scar was too weak to survive. The cold blackness was destroyed by the native core and the liquid fire. Yet the cold blackness did not go quietly.

The liquid fire also took significant damage in the battle. It was severely weakened and altered. Weakened liquid fire and the remnants of the cold blackness were absorbed by the immature native core. The liquid fire connected and blended with elements of the magical core

The result was something the world had never seen before.

-III-

29 October 1993

It was the night before the full moon and Remus Lupin could feel it in his bones. His inner wolf was excited to be released. After more than thirty years of lycanthropy the pain was familiar if still highly unwanted. At least Severus's potion was taking the edge off the pain and would allow him control over the beast the next night.

Professor Lupin was patrolling the Hogwart's halls and grounds as part of his responsibilities to the school. Prefects patrolled until an hour after curfew. Then one professor each night patrolled until 2.00 in the morning. The ghosts of Hogwarts also kept watch during and after the professors' patrols.

As he patrolled the area outside Hogwarts near the greenhouses, the man considered his friend's son, Harry Potter. Harry was not what the older wizard expected.

Harry was a bit shorter than his father had been in Third year, but quite a bit more muscular. He also lacked the Potters' trade-mark poor eyesight although he did have James's hair and face. His eyes were pure Lily.

The younger Potter also seemed to lack James's notorious charisma. Instead Harry maintained a small group of very close friends; isolated from the rest of the school. Many of the students seemed oddly split. They barely tolerated Harry while respecting the Boy-Who-Lived. It seemed rather strange.

Harry also seemed to have an excellent grasp of practical magic. His written assignments tended to be sparse and the absolute minimum length, but he excelled with a wand in his hand. Minerva and Filius agreed with his assessment. Severus of course had nothing positive to say about any Potter while his Runes and Magical Creatures professors hadn't had him long enough to make an assessment. (Although Hagrid assured Remus Harry would be brilliant in his class based on how Harry handled Hagrid's many 'pets'.)

Remus's musings were disrupted when a familiar large black dog ran past. Padfoot. Remus drew his wand to call send a Patronus message to Professor Dumbledore when he received the shock of his life.

The large werewolf sprinted around the corner on all fours at a much higher rate of speed then Padfoot managed.

"Bloody hell!" Remus gasped in shock as he brought his wand to bear. The full moon wasn't until tomorrow night! How could a werewolf be out tonight?

The werewolf seemed to hear the soft exclamation. It abruptly came to a stop and turned to face the Defence professor. It rose to stand on its rear legs and seemed to tower over the currently human professor.

With his experienced eye, Remus could see now that it was still an adolescent werewolf not yet into his full growth. Fully grown the werewolf would be even bigger than Fenrir Greyback! Next, Remus noticed the creature's eyes. No sign of the yellow tinted eyes that indicated the lycanthropic madness he'd expected. Instead the green eyes seemed amused.

Remus slowly lowered his wand. Dumbledore never mentioned that he'd accepted another student infected as a werewolf. Why wouldn't he mention it? And after what had happened during their Sixth year, how was Severus accepting it?

The massive werewolf made an odd hurmph that seemed to contain humour and resignation.

It was not until the sound of a barking dog that Remus remembered the first figure. Before he could act, the werewolf made the same hurmph sound before sprinting off in the direction the dog had gone. Before he knew it, the Defence professor was alone in the darkness again without ever casting a single spell.

-IV-

It was early the next morning when Remus Lupin appeared in Professor Dumbledore's office well before breakfast was even served.

"Come in, Remus," the old wizard greeted him. "What brings you to see me so early? Did you have some trouble last night?"

"Well, I spotted Sirius briefly if that is what you mean. But first, why didn't you tell me you have a werewolf as a student? Who is it?"

Dumbledore paused from sipping his tea to peer over the cup's rim. "I'm sorry. Did you say we have a student with lycanthropy?"

"I figured you knew," Remus answered. "Somehow he was transformed last night and chasing Sirius. He stopped when he saw me and I could tell he was on wolfsbane. The human mind was in complete control. I reckoned Severus must be making it for him too."

Dumbledore looked concerned. "I did not know anything about this. Are you sure it is a student? The wards wouldn't allow a rabid werewolf through that was not a student, but one on wolfsbane might be able to pass."

Remus made a small shrug. "I am fairly sure the werewolf was only a teenager based on his size and development. I can also tell you the wolf in me knows he is an alpha."

"I will, of course, defer to your expertise," Dumbledore murmured. "I find it highly unlikely that a student could have hidden such a condition from me for long. A First year maybe?"

"Too big," Remus answered. "He was too old. I would say Third through Fifth year would be the most likely.

Dumbledore bowed his head slightly in acceptance. "Once again I will defer to your opinion. Would you be willing to look into this matter for me? With your background it would be easier for you than any of the other current staff."

Remus nodded his acceptance. The student deserved an education but the school staff needed to know about his affliction. While the student seemed to have managed to maintain control this could be a recent affliction. A novice made mistakes. Most attacks were made by novices or the truly evil wolves like Greyback.

"Now, are you sure our friend was male?" Dumbledore asked. Remus resisted the urge to make a snarky comment. How would he have missed that?

"Yes," he answered.

"Excellent. That leaves us with 57 students within the years you indicated. Anything else you noticed about his wolf form that seemed different to you?"

Remus considered for a moment. "Most werewolves are still men that have taken on wolf characteristics. This one looked more like a wolf that had taken human characteristics. The would usually indicate that the wizard as embraced the lycanthropy, much like Greyback. But they are also usually the ones that abhor taking the potion and he was a bit young to have reached that stage too."

Dumbledore nodded. "Interesting. I shall call a meeting with the House Heads for later today. No danger exists during the day so the need is not immediate. Would you be willing to share your memory of the encounter with the rest of the senior staff? Excellent! Now I suggest we make our way down to breakfast."

-V-

2 January, 1994

Remus was once again on late night patrol. He enjoyed the quiet darkness of the Hogwarts halls. It reminded him so much of his time at Hogwarts with his friends. James was like the cool big brother that would help you through anything. Peter was quiet but always willing to volunteer to help out. The traitor was fun and the social driver of the group.

It had been James that recognized Remus's monthly absences for what they were in their First year. The traitor suggested a way to help Remus and stole a text on becoming an animagus from the Black family library. Peter was able to slip out and (with James's money) gather the ingredients and other materials needed to brew the animagus identification potion and then train themselves to make the transformation.

The Marauders had made a magical pact in Second year never to reveal Remus's condition or the animagus training of the other three to those not already in the know without the individual's permission. The pact should have been broken once the traitor betrayed James and Lily. Remus still couldn't tell anyone about the traitor's animagus form. Something must have been off in the wording of the pact. James had kept it in the Potter family vault so Remus couldn't verify it. When he had shown his memory of the encounter with Padfoot and the werewolf, the dog was replaced with the traitor's human form.

Remus moved on to thoughts of his own encounter with their mystery werewolf from October. The last full moon was six days past and the third full moon that the full Hogwarts staff had fruitlessly searched for any sign of a werewolf on the grounds. Between the dementors, the traitor, and the mystery werewolf, the staff was getting very nervous about their ability to protect their students. Well, except for Albus and Severus. Albus just proclaimed that everything would be taken care of and ask if you want a lemon drop. Severus just didn't seem to care.

To distract himself, Remus cast the spells the Marauders used to move unobserved through the school: a Disillusionment spell to cover the visible, a Silencing charm to cover the auditory, and an Oderless charm to cover his scent. Remus allowed himself to pretend he was 14 again and off on another Marauder prank adventure.

Remus had just entered the Entry Hall and stood at the base of the great stairway when he heard an odd rushing noise. A flash of blackness in the dim light of the hall passed overhead.

It was in complete disbelief that Remus watched the mystery werewolf leaping from landing to landing moving up the stairs to be lost in the gloom at the top of the stairs. To make matters worse, the werewolf had a school bag casually thrown over one shoulder. The Gryffindor and Ravenclaw towers were in that general direction. Was their mystery student in one of those Houses?

Remus dropped his spells as he quickly made his way to Dumbledore's office. This sighting confirmed the impossible: the student's transformations were not dependent on the full moon and might have been completely voluntary. How many times had the other Marauders used their animagus forms to sneak back to Gryffindor tower after a late night prank or rendezvous? Remus bet the student must have made a run at the Restricted Section. Maybe they could find some evidence of who it was by searching there.

Over the next five months, Remus would have four more sightings of his elusive werewolf. He never came close to capturing the beast and came to the conclusion the infected student was playing with him. No other professors ever so much as spotted the creature. If not for his memories, most of the staff would have suspected the old Marauder of playing a prank on them. Instead it seemed the prank was on him.

One incident in March confirmed the student was a prankster. Remus had been checking a bathroom for out of bounds students. He opened the door to find himself nose to muzzle with the werewolf. The professor let out a scream reminiscent of Gilderoy Lockhart and fell back on his arse. When he looked up again the wolf was gone.

Remus wondered if werewolves could laugh hysterically. He hoped the brat bit his tongue.

-VI-

23 June 1994

The odd group marched through the tunnel leading to the Whomping Willow. Ms Granger's orange cat led the way followed by Ron Weasley and Remus Lupin shackled together with Wormtail. Remus was keeping his wand on his former friend. Sirius was behind them using Snape's wand to levitate the unconscious Potions Master down the tunnel. Harry and Ms Granger brought up the rear.

Remus could hear Harry and Sirius talking about plans for the summer. It warmed Remus's heart to hear Harry's immediate acceptance of Sirius's offer to live with him. He could almost feel the joy in his old friend. A joy denied so long without even the dignity of a trial. Even now Remus could feel the guilt gnawing at him for turning his back on Padfoot without even talking to him first.

The group reached the end of the tunnel and Crookshanks scurried up the ladder and onto the school grounds. Not hearing the Willow moving around, Remus motioned for Mr Weasley to precede him, next was Wormtail, and then Remus himself.

Clearing the ladder Remus led his student and former friend a couple metres away to allow the others room to come up. It was as Remus was looking back towards the Willow that he felt it.

The moon.

It was up already. It was up and he had forgotten to take the wolfsbane potion in his panic over protecting Harry from Sirius. Oh merciful Merlin forgive him.

Remus felt his body lock as the change set in. He felt his consciousness being pushed back as the wolf, Moony, came to the fore. The pain started in waves as his body altered to accommodate the wolf.

Remus let out a horrible snarl as he heard his prey shout, "Leave it to me – RUN!"

The still human part of Remus was shocked to hear Harry confidently say, "No, Sirius. I won't leave Ron. I'll handle Remus. You take care of Pettigrew."

Through Moony's eyes, Remus could see Harry break past the stunned Sirius. But what happened next stunned even Remus and his wolf.

Harry quickly ripped off his school robes with practiced ease to reveal the baggy, worn muggle clothing underneath. Then he started to grow. The fur erupted from his skin as his head and body quickly morphed into the huge black werewolf Remus had been been hunting all year.

Harry bound forward and was on Remus instantly. Remus felt Moony break the manacle holding him to Peter just before Harry hit him. The smaller werewolf threw Remus into the air and away from the two manacled wizards.

The older werewolf landed on his feet and immediately charged forward to meet this upstart in his territory. The werewolf dove in going for the throat only to get redirected into a tree. It was dazed from the collision and attempted to shake its head clear.

The werewolf froze when it suddenly felt jaws close almost gently around its throat. Remus could feel the sharp teeth poised to rip his life out. More importantly, so did Moony.

Moony felt the power of the younger and stronger werewolf. Moony made a whimpering noise of submission to the stronger wolf. Remus felt the teeth release slightly and then Harry's wolf backed off slightly. Pack instincts were strong even in werewolves. Moony knew this strange wolf was his alpha now.

Moony suddenly spotted the prey creatures moving quickly away. He moved to rise to chase them only to receive a strong cuff to the head that knocked him right back down. Moony looked up at his new alpha in shock. The midnight black furred werewolf merely raised a powerful hand with wicked looking nails that looked like black daggers. Then it raised one digit and merely wiggled it from side to side while shaking his head. Remus and Moony both got the message.

"Bad doggie."

-VIII-

Madam Bones, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, was summoned along with Aurors Kingsley Shacklebolt and Hestia Jones to Professor Dumbledore's office. Dumbledore had Floo'd Madam Bones with the report of an Animagus being caught while living in the boys dorms in Gryffindor Tower. Few things motivate LEO's anywhere like the chance to arrest a sexual predator that preys on children.

Madam Bones arrived to find Dumbledore along with a red-haired boy that could only be one or Arthur's sons and a girl the same age with thick, impossibly bushy hair. Based on Susan's reports of school she deduced the girl must be Hermione Granger. Bound in a chair in front of them was a short balding man; a little stout and very slovenly looking.

"What do we have here, Albus?"

"Mr Weasley and Ms Granger came to me tonight with this man and a most extraordinary story."

"He's my rat, Scabbers," Ron burst out. "The creepy git's been sleeping in my bed for years. And before that he was my brother Percy's."

"Ron!" the girl hissed. Then she turned to the DMLE Head. "Hello Madam Bones. I am Hermione Granger. I was doing some reading about Animagi and I came across a spell to identify an animagus in their animal form. I wanted to try to cast it for myself. I was more than a bit surprised when it caused Scabber's to glow. Fortunately he was asleep and I had a bit of time to do some more research. I found the spell to force an animagus back into human form. That is when this man appeared."

Madam Bones nodded her understanding. She was impressed a Third year in class with her niece could work such obscure magic. It wasn't particularly hard to cast but with so few animagi not many bothered. It was however in keeping with Susan's comments on Ms Granger's personality.

"We don't have any rat animagus listed in the registry," Auror Jones commented.

"The last one was Adam Budd who died in 1803," Ms Granger supplier. Then she blushed when the three Aurors turned to look at her in surprise. "Um, we found out Harry's dad was an unregistered stag animagus. So I looked up the registry."

Madam Bones was shocked again. "This would be James Potter, Harry Potter's father?" The two students nodded. The old witch let a small smile escape. "That crafty little bugger. James always thought rules were more guidelines than anything else. He never even mentioned it to me when I was his training officer.

"Now, who do we have here?" she asked turning back to the bound man.

"I believe I can be of some assistance with that," Dumbledore spoke up. "I believe he is a former Hogwarts student, a former Gryffindor even, but one long taken for dead."

Bones looked up at the Headmaster. "And that is?"

"Peter Pettigrew, the man Sirius Black was believed to have murdered after betraying the Potter's to Voldemort. In fact it was his last shouted statement that was seen as key evidence against Black."

The three Aurors looked at the balding man in shock. The possible ramifications of this information were going through each of their heads.

"Right," Bones said. "Kingsley, get back to the office. I want a vial of Veritserium and a deposition quill." Once the Auror was gone she turned to the two students. "And where would Mr Potter be? I understand the three of you are rarely apart."

"He had detention with Snape," Ron provided with a shrug.

"Professor Snape, Ron!" Hermione corrected him. The youngest Weasley male winced slightly.

"Mr Potter was not involved in this discovery so I do not believe his involvement is required at this time," Dumbledore offered.

"Yes, well, the repercussions of tonight if this is indeed Pettigrew will involve Mr Potter," Bones commented. "Now, I don't believe we should keep these students up any longer, do you professor?"

"No, of course." Dumbledore turned and dashed off a quick note that he handed to Hermione. "Please go directly to Gryffindor tower. I shall inform you of what we find out after breakfast tomorrow."

"Yes, professor," Hermione acknowledged. The two students walked out.

After they were gone, Madam Bones asked, "Do you believe all of that?"

Albus chuckled. "For the most part, yes. They may have been a bit hazy with the details and I suspect Mr Potter played a bigger role in this drama than they indicated as I suspect you would agree. But the core story is undeniable. This is indeed Peter Pettigrew. He is missing the finger found at the site of the explosion. I was not Chief Warlock at the time of Sirius Black's arrest but this significantly increases the doubts I've had of Mr Black's guilt."

The conversation was interrupted by the return of Kingsley Shacklebolt with the requested items. Within ten minutes the Headmaster and the law enforcement personnel in the room was appalled at the gross miscarriage of justice that had occurred.

-IX-

Remus Lupin woke with the familiar morning after pains of his transformation. He winced as he struggled to sit up. Oddly, he didn't feel as stiff as most of these mornings. A holdover result from taking wolfsbane the past several months? Maybe.

"Hey Moony! You're awake!"

Remus turned his head slightly to see a grinning Sirius Black sitting with his back to the wall. Remus realized he was back in the Shrieking Shack in the room they had confronted Peter.

"Merlin, I hate morning people," Remus groaned.

Sirius slid a potion bottle towards his friend. "Here. Harry's little friend thought to send this out for you. A pain relief potion with a muscle relaxant. Just like Lily used to make!"

Remus hurt too much to snicker. Instead he drank down the potion Ms Granger had helpfully sent out.

After the potion was gone, Remus asked, "So, what happened?"

"You missed all the fun, Moony. I got to Oblivate Snape! Hope I didn't do too much. I am a bit rusty. Plus, we stunned poor little Peter a few times before Hermy and Ron took him to Dumbledore's office. Amelia has the bastard now. Like a pitbull that one. He was in official custody and questioned before Fudge even got wind of it. They've already called off the Dementors and the 'Kill on sight' order."

Remus returned Sirius's delighted smile with one of his own albeit mixed with pain. "That's great, Padfoot. But I meant with my change? Its jumbled but … is Harry a werewolf too?"

"Oh, that. Well, first you went all Captain Wolf-n-whine on us. I was all set to by the brave Gryffindor animagus and lead you off when Harry suddenly goes Wolfman Jack and bitch slaps you into being a good puppy. Then he took you into the Forbidden Forest to play."

Remus felt one of his greatest fears coming true. "So, he's infected too?" he asked in a trembling voice.

"Not exactly," a familiar voice answered. Remus turned to see Harry entering the room with a box with some delicious odours coming from it. Harry set the box down on the floor and started to pull out plates with full breakfasts already served.

"I asked Dobby to bring these out. Figured you two could use them," he explained.

"That's the Lily in you. Prongs wasn't that smart," Padfoot announced as he grabbed a plate and started to eat.

Remus however was just looking at Harry with a scared expression. "Harry, can you explain what happened?"

Harry settled down against a different wall so Remus was on one side and Sirius was on the other. "Well, I was bitten when I was almost 9. The curse started to infect me but then it was like something in me was fighting it. "

Harry paused and smiled briefly. "Hermione researched what could have happened but found nothing. She hated that," he confided with a smirk. "When I woke up the next morning, I was starving and had black ichor of some type drying on my face and chest. It seems to have come out of my scar. It used to be bigger and bright red but now it's just the thin white scar you see now.

"Hermione tested me for Lycanthropy. The charm makes werewolves glow red. I was blue. The animagus detection charm does the same thing but I was green. Hermione's theory is that the lycanthropy somehow interacted with leftover Dark Magic from the Killing Curse and it made me a freak werewolf animagus. It really paid off with the basilisk last year. But the full moon means nothing to me and silver only gives me a rash. We don't know if my bite is infectious or not."

The two adult Marauders sat speechless in their places. Harry's casual revelations locked up their brains. A werewolf-animagus hybrid? And what did a basilisk have to do with his form?

It was Remus that finally managed to ask a rational question.

"And Dumbledore knows nothing about this?"

Harry shrugged. "The Headmaster has never spoken to me about it, but I wouldn't bet against his knowing. Ron, Hermione and two others are the only other ones I've told."

"And the wolf doesn't try to take over?" Remus asked curiously.

Harry shrugged again. "There isn't a divide between us really. Hermione calls it a symbiotic relationship but it isn't really. That is too separate. It's more like getting nudges from my subconscious but instead of a human subconscious it is one for the werewolf form. He really hates Snape and the Malfoys. Every time I have another run in I keep getting funny images of what the wolf wants to do to them."

Sirius grinned at the other two wizards. It looked a bit ghastly on the emaciated and dirty wizard but his eyes reflected his joy and excitement. Looking directly at Remus, he said, "Mr Moony, Mr Padfoot submits this young wizard as member of the Marauders. He has the animal shape and has shown his ability at pranking."

Remus laughed before schooling his face into a serious expression. "That is a serious request, Mr Padfoot. Being that the wizard in question has seen fit to prank me all year," Remus paused and threw a mock glare at Harry. "I would have to agree he meet both requirements. Do you have a name for our newest Marauder?"

"I submit 'Mr Jack'."

Remus nodded. "Representative of his form but not immediately apparent. I approve."

Sirius turned to Harry and said, "Welcome to the Marauders, Mr Jack."


	2. Beginnings

AN: I know I said I didn't plan to write any more to this story but the bunny kept hopping about...

It has been interesting to write so far since I keep changing who's viewpoint the story is told from. This section is mostly from Vernon and Prof McGonagall's POV. I will probably do at least one more section covering 1st and 2nd years. (Everyone keeps asking about the basilisk.)

**The Beginnings**

24 June 1989

Vernon Dursley sat down to enjoy his morning meal with great happiness. The large man felt something akin to pure joy this morning. If there was one thing Vernon Dursley adored was receiving his rightful due as one of the brightest, driven, and gifted men in the whole of England. Too many of the refuse and degenerates that tainted to title of 'Englishman' worked to sabotage and undermine his efforts and keep him from his proper place.

But for the last five days, everything, EVERYTHING had gone Vernon Dursley's way.

Oscar Howard had signed the Bolson account on for a five year deal for a ludicrous mark-up that would add tens of thousands of additional pounds profit for Grunnings. Old man Grunning already promised Vernon a bonus that by itself was sufficient to pay all of Dudley's first year at Smeltings!

Then his precious heir to the family name had his ninth birthday. His son would take all of England by storm! Vernon Dursley was an excellent judge of character and potential in job applicants. In his son, Vernon Dursley saw true greatness. Why, he wouldn't be surprised one day to see his son named Prime Minister! Yes, indeed. And after that he would be given a title and elevated to the House of Lords for his successive contributions to the British Empire. The Dursley name would finally take its rightful place in the elite of British society!

And the final item topped it all off. His wife's freakish nephew had not been seen in the whole five days! The little freak disappeared after the Howards left. Or more precisely, he never returned. Vernon hummed in enjoyment as he chewed his breakfast and considered this development. Maybe the brat was taken by some deviant paedophile to be used and his body to be dumped in a ditch somewhere! What a wonderful thought!

Vernon's sick, twisted daydreams were interrupted by the sound of the front door opening and then closing.

"Pet? Back from the market so soon?" he called.

"No, Uncle Vernon, its me."

Vernon looked up, his face already turning red with anger. But something stopped him from erupting.

The brat stood there with his clothes full of mud and twigs. His jumper was torn over his left shoulder like it had been caught in a thresher. Also it looked like tar had been poured down his front. Dudley's old trainers were missing as were the boy's socks. The boy also seemed bigger; almost as tall as Dudley. But what made Vernon pause was when his eyes met the boy's eyes.

The boy's glasses were missing. Instead, his green eyes, so much like Pet's mother and sister's eyes, seemed to glow with some inner power. It was that power that stilled Vernon's tongue. The boy's eyes conveyed power, strength, and the promise of violence.

Something in Vernon just wanted to curl up and hide from his nephew's gaze.

"Wh- where have you been, boy?" Vernon managed to ask.

"The forest. Something … odd happened. I was attacked by something. I woke up last night in the forest. The remains of two rabbits were next to me. That was when I remembered. I'd eaten them. I chased them both down and eaten them."

"You chased them down?" Vernon asked scornfully. However, his voice sounded hollow even to him.

"I changed. I was faster … stronger … hungrier. I am still hungry.

Without so much as a 'by-your-leave' the boy stepped over to the counter and picked up the plate full of breakfast sausages Pet cooked before leaving on her errands. The boy started to shove the meat links into his mouth one after another.

Vernon stepped forward and made a grab at the plate, saying, "Now see here, boy! I won't have you…" Vernon's shouting was cut off in mid-stream. As he reached for the plate, the boy looked up. The glow in his eyes seemed to brighten ominously and a low, rumbling growl issued forth from his throat. The sound was more felt then heard. Vernon suddenly felt the need to reach the water closet as soon as possible.

Vernon carefully withdrew his hand and stepped back carefully. The boy resumed eating but kept an eye on his uncle.

What had happened to his perfect week? How were they supposed to deal with the boy now?

-I-

Dudley returned home with his friends to find the little freak weeding the flowerbeds in the front garden. Dudley strutted over to his freak cousin. Taunting the smaller boy was always good for entertainment. Sensing their leader's intent, the other boys spread out and surrounded their favourite victim like the jackals they were.

"Decided to come back, freak?" the overweight bully started. "Dad thought maybe you'd crawled off and died to leave us normal people in peace." The minions chuckled darkly at their leader's comment.

The dark haired boy simply ignored them as he mechanically continued to pull the weeds from the moist ground. This silence confused Dudley and his gang. Why hadn't the boy responded? Potter always responded. Whether they admitted it or not, the fire and resistance Potter showed was what made him a favourite target. One-on-one, Potter was a match for any of them except Dudley. But as a group he posed no real threat. In effect, he was tough enough to give them some fun but not enough to be a danger.

"Did you hear me, freak? Or did Dad finally knock you stupid?" Still the Potter boy did nothing to respond. Dudley felt a small trill of fear and uncertainty. This was new.

That uncertainty made Dudley lean over to push the smaller boy into the dirt. Except Potter suddenly stood up, turned and moved to the side in one graceful motion. Dudley barely recognized this as he fell into his Mum's prize rosebushes but his friends saw it.

Dudley gathered a few scratches crawling out of the bushes. As he stood up he was shocked to find Potter simply standing there watching him. Dudley shook off his friends' help as stood to face his cousin.

The part of Dudley's brain that would have been an intelligent, productive member of society if raised in a different environment tried to warn the oaf that something was different in the cousin. The boy was now almost eyelevel with Dudley and stood with a quiet confidence. The oaf barely noticed the target was missing his glasses but the small bit of functional brain noted the other boy didn't seem to be having any problem seeing.

The oaf ignored the brain's repeated warnings. '_Danger, Dudley Dursley! Danger!_'

"That's it, Potter!" The nine year-old bully threw a punch directly for his cousin's face with all of his considerable weight behind it. The expected sound of fist meeting flesh was heard but not in the way expected.

The gang stood in shock as Potter caught the punch thrown at him in his hand and simply stopped it.

Dudley stared at his cousin in disbelief. That is when his eyes met his cousin's. Something in those eyes promised violence. The large blonde boy barely felt the warm trickle running down his leg.

"Leave me alone," the freak growled out.

The gang turned to run almost at the same time. Piers Polkis was the first to run but that quickly started the rest moving. Dudley was right behind them.

24 July 1991

The stag bound through the thicket surrounding the farm field ignoring the pull of the branches on its growing antler rack. The stag never paused to look around or check the knee-high plants for something to eat. It had much more important things on its mind.

Such as survival.

The large deer raced across the field in the pre-dawn light towards the other side. Coming close to the opposing edge of the field, the stag slowed to a stop to peer carefully around. Nothing was moving and no sound other than the laboured breathing of the stag broke the silence of the morning.

Tension released from the deer's stance. There was no sign of his pursuer. The hunter must have been lost back in the small forest. It was safe…

A sudden pain poked the stag in the side near the shoulder. Startled, the deer turned its head to find himself nose to nose with a great slobbering beast. Adrenalin and fear shot through the stag. There was no escape!

Sudden pain ripped through the deer's chest and its vision dimmed.

-I-

The most bizarre combination of howls and yelps could be heard coming from the edge of the field. An observer would have seen a very strange sight. A young stag was sprawled in the dirt unconscious while a black-furred beast lay rolling on the ground next to it.

Deer can faint?

Harry finally stood up as he fought to get air into his lungs. 'I know that was mean,' he thought, 'and I must be a horrible person because that was really funny.'

The werewolf moved off into the forest just as the deer started to stir. The beast started to howl again a moment later when the stag stood up with a shocked look of disbelief that it was still alive before bounding off to safety.

A short time later the Beast was sitting in a small hidden glen near a small stream. This place was Harry's favourite place away from his relatives. It was sheltered from much of the weather and had plenty of fresh water. But it was also very peaceful and beautiful. It was a great place to escape the Dursleys and the glares from people that believed their lies.

Harry absently removed a rabbit haunch before squatting down to eat. Fortunately his form dictated what he found acceptable cuisine. The Beast had no problem with raw meat for breakfast. Usually he only hunted smaller animals to eat. The deer would have been too much for him to eat in a single sitting and he had no place to store the leftovers.

Sometimes, Harry felt the need to hunt; to get fresh meat and eat his fill. Harry suspected that the Beast needed more protein than the Durley's meals provided. Petunia Dursley made a lot of pasta and Harry always got the smallest slices of meat. Stalking was great fun. It gave new meaning to the old term 'Harry Hunting'. Once he had his fill, he would divide up the animal's remains and leave it for other creatures of the forest. A number of foxes and similar smaller predators now called the forest home due to the abundant, easy food.

Harry had never stalked a deer before. They were skittish creatures and fast so they were fun to chase. But it just seemed wrong to eat them for some reason.

Squatting in the woods eating the rabbit, Harry considered his last two years. Being bitten by the creature was a mixed blessing to Harry. His so-called family was now afraid of him. The first time they had seen the Beast was when Dudley tried to reassert his superiority by throwing the smaller boy down the stairs the night Harry had returned 'home'. A boy started to fall but it was the wolf that landed on his feet at the bottom of the stairs. The Beast was up the stairs in a blink. Dudley found himself suspended above the floor by the giant clawed hand wrapped around his fat neck.

Dudley found himself with a warm trickle running down his leg for the second time that day.

Since that time, Harry and the Dursleys lived in a state of truce. Harry voluntarily helped out around the house, and the Dursleys pretended Harry didn't exist. Harry never ate with the family but there was always sufficient food left over to feed a growing child.

At school, things remained much the same as before the creature bit Harry. The children at school continued to follow Dudley's lead. Even though it was Dudley that regularly stole money and candy from smaller, weaker students, their classmates believed Dudley's stories that small, dark-haired boy was a crazed killer. Even the teachers were wary of the boy and refused to see to ragged, poor-fitting clothing or meagre lunches as anything but what the boy deserved.

Harry accepted this solitude as an improvement though and spent large amounts of time hiding in the library. The librarian glared at him often, but Harry learnt to ignore her. Instead he sought out books that might explain his condition. He suspected the creature that bit him was a werewolf as it fit some of the legends he'd read. He read many books on werewolves and other mythical monsters looking for answers.

Most of these dealt with superstitions that he felt didn't really apply to him. For example, he didn't really turn into a wolf. One look in the mirror while in Beast form told him that. He looked more like a wolf crossed with a gorilla; a wolf's head atop a gorilla's massive furred body but with legs of a wolf. While he could run on two legs, for real speed he ran on all fours. And his clawed hands and feet were adept at climbing and gripping walls and trees. Aside from his appearance, Harry found he was not dependent on the moon's phases, silver (Aunt Petunia hit him with a candlestick), have furry palms, or any of the other classical 'signs' of lycanthropy. So, instead of calling himself a werewolf, he was the Beast. (It sounded cooler to the ten year-old anyway.)

There were a few drawbacks for his new 'condition'. One issue with being a Beast was hearing. Even in human form he could hear what the other children whispered about him to each other. He ignored them as best he could but they felt like constant little paper cuts; painful and annoying but not something you could do much about. The second was his eyes. His green eyes, brilliant before, now seemed to glow. It seemed to scare anyone he made eye contact with. He was able to deal with that by finding a pair of clear costume lenses that were slightly tinted that would fit in his old frames. They weakened the impact of Harry's eyes but few would still willingly meet the gaze of the young boy.

In human form Harry stepped from the forest to walk back to the Durleys. He walked along the farm lane back towards the park when an odd event even for Harry occurred.

An owl landed on his shoulder.

Needless to say, this freaked the almost eleven year-old out. The owl hooted in an irritated sounding tone as it flapped its wings to return to flight after Harry's startled jump dislodged the bird.

Harry watched a moment as the owl circled him. He'd seen plenty of owls the last two years in the forest but had never seen one act quite like this. Carefully he raised his arm to allow the owl to land on his forearm.

The owl immediately landed although it continued its irritated noises. As Harry was looking at the bird in disbelief, he noticed the envelope attached to its leg. Carefully, Harry removed the envelope. He was startled again then when the bird took off again once free of its burden.

Harry stood watching until the bird flew out of sight. 'That was odd,' he thought as the bird crested the trees. It was then he remembered the envelope in his hand. He glanced down at the envelope and read:

_Mr Harry Potter_

_At the Forest's Edge_

_Little Whinging, Surrey_

-II-

Professor Minerva McGonagall sat in her office receiving the letters from the students. This was her busiest time of the year as Deputy Headmistress. First there were the letters of new First year students accepting entrance into Hogwarts; then the Third years' letters selecting their elective classes; and finally there were the Sixth year's selections of NEWT classes. In addition, she was responsible for notifying the selected prefects, Head Boy and Head Girl of their positions. In short, this all made her a very busy witch.

So the arrival of yet another owl almost went unnoticed. However this owl landed directly in front of her on the picture frame of her brother and his family.

"If you would wait in the designated spot, I shall be with you presently," she primly informed the owl.

For its part the owl merely glared at her with its wide unblinking eyes before imperiously thrusting the leg with a reply on it forward.

"Oh, very well." The witch removed the letter with the ease of long practice. She glanced down and was shocked at what she saw there.

It was a student's letter. And not just any student, but Harry Potters. The Boy-Who-Lived. The most anticipated student since the heir to the throne of England, Prince Edward V, arrived in 1481! Why was his letter being returned?

Noting the seal was opened, she opened it to see a small note in written into the margin of the letter. It read:

_Hi,_

_Not sure if this is a prank or not but that was wicked the way you trained this owl. Never knew you could do that._

_What is this about? Where is Hogwarts and why should I go there? Do you really teach magic? Is that like David Copperfield-type magic?_

_Harry_

Professor McGonagall's shriek of horror was heard in the neighbouring professors' offices. Pomona Sprout and Filius Flitwick both arrived in short order to see what had set off their colleague. (They rather expected some prank from the Weasley twins to be honest.)

"Minerva, what is the matter?" Pomona asked as she entered.

"He… he… he doesn't know anything about Hogwarts or even magic itself!" the professor yelled as she paced back and forth.

"He who?" Filius squeaked.

"Harry Potter! Here, read it!" The Transfiguration professor thrust the paper at the half-goblin professor.

"Oh my," he exclaimed in a shocked voice. "Isn't this David Copperfield the squib that makes a living in the Muggle world as a stage magician?"

Minerva ignored the question as she continued to pace and muttered comments about Albus Dumbledore, his probable parentage, and sanitary habits under her breath.

Well, mostly under her breath. To their enjoyment her fellow two professors caught the occasional phrase.

Then she stopped and looked up. "Albus is not due back from his ICW meeting for two more days. _He_ would probably have Hagrid or, Merlin forbid, Severus go to collect he child. I swear that that man means well but his head is so far into the clouds the lack of oxygen has killed his brain." She nodded to emphasize her point.

"Now, I think I deserve an afternoon off. I shall go visit Mr Potter and see that his questions are answered. Would you two be willing to hold things down for me here?"

Pomona agreed but Filius demurred. "Actually, I would like to accompany you if I may. Lily was in your House but she would have been my apprentice if the war hadn't gotten in the way. I find myself highly curious about how her son turned out."

Pomona smiled. "I can handle things here for the afternoon. I am ahead of schedule in the greenhouses anyway."

"Very well," Minerva agreed. "Shall we go now, Filius?"

Minerva found Harry Potter sitting in the back garden of the Dursleys. The lawn was immaculately maintained, with the hedges trimmed, and the beds fully weeded. If she didn't know better she would have suspected it was maintained by magic or a house-elf. Unfortunately, based on the ragged, dirty clothes the boy wore she knew who the house-elf was.

Harry looked up from the book he was reading as she approached.

"Hello, kitty. Lost?"

Minerva smoothly shifted back into her human form.

"No Mr Potter, I am not lost. I am Professor McGonagall. I just received your reply and wished to discuss it with you."

Minerva was a bit surprised how Harry reacted to her sudden appearance. Rather than fright or shock, he seemed … excited. He jumped to his feet and started to shoot excited questions at her.

"Can everyone magical change forms? How did you manage to keep your clothes? What do you call it? Is it a magical item that makes you change or a skill …."

"Mr Potter!" the professor interrupted him. "Please be patient. I am here to explain to you about magic and Hogwarts."

"Ah, you found him!" a new voice squeaked.

"Mr Potter, As I was saying I am Professor McGonagall and this is Professor Flitwick. I was rather disturbed to receive your reply and wished to discuss it with you. Shall we go inside to discuss this? It is not a topic to be discussed in the open."

Harry flushed at the question. "Er, I'm not allowed in the house right now. They took my cousin shopping."

"Well, why don't we sit in the chairs over there," Filius suggested. "I can make sure no one notices or hears us as long as we do nothing to overt."

Harry agreed and led the way over to the lawn chairs. Minerva took this time to observe the son of two of her favourite students. Harry was a bit shorter than she believed James was at the same age but much more developed. Not like a muggle bodybuilder but more like a Beater. He looked like he'd make a good Seeker as well.

Once they were seated, McGonagall asked, "Now, Mr Potter, what has your family told you of your parents and the magical world?"

"Relatives, ma'am," the boy corrected her. "They told me my parents lived off the dole and died drunk in an auto accident."

"James and Lily die in an accident?" Filius repeated in indignation. The former duelling champion looked ready to explode. Minerva knew exactly how he felt. But she was the Deputy Headmistress and needed to stay calm.

"That is not correct, Mr Potter as you may have guessed." Her words pulled Harry's attention from the indignant muttering of the Charms professor. When she met his eyes she saw the same glint of amusement she recognized from his father but with Lily Evens' eyes. The combination almost broke her heart anew.

"I am afraid I shall have to explain a bit of history. About ten years before you were born an evil wizard appeared in England. He called himself …" She paused uncomfortably before steeling herself. "He called himself Voldemort. Even today we refer to him as 'He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named' or 'You-Know-Who' We call dark wizards that gather followers and attack our world 'Dark Lords'. You-Know-Who was the worst Dark Lord seen in Britain in centuries. Many people died either as his victim or fighting his followers called 'Death Eaters'.

"It was a very dark time, Mr Potter," Filius jumped in. "Professor McGonagall and I were already professors at Hogwarts. Almost every day brought news of another student loosing family members. You father lost his parents in his Sixth year. He was already with your mother. The two of them along with some friends started preparing to fight him. After finishing school your parents joined the Light forces fighting back. Along the way they were married and you came along.

"About this time, the Dark Lord had his people target James and Lily along with a few others. They went into hiding with you. I even helped your mum research an ancient charm to help protect your family." Filius paused a second to smile. "She was brilliant in Charms and Potions. James was excelled in Transfiguration. They were both top students and Heads their Seventh year. I expect the same from their son." Harry tried to smile back but his eyes showed his emotion at hearing something positive about his parents.

Minerva motioned to Filius to wait a moment. Once Mr Potter seemed to regain control, she continued.

"Unfortunately, the Dark Lord had a spy who gave him their location. They were killed on October 31, 1981. Now something happened that night, something no one can really explain." Harry looked a bit shaken at this but also curious.

"Some magic is what we call Dark. The worst of these spells is called the Killing Curse. It kills anyone it touches, no matter where they are hit. There is no sign of pain or even any injury. The person is just dead. Shields do not work against it. The only defence is to not get hit." She looked at Mr Potter to see if he understood. The boy nodded slightly.

"Your father was killed downstairs trying to buy time for you and your Mum to escape. There were signs he put up a significant fight before getting hit by the Killing Curse. The Dark Lord found you and your mother in your nursery." The professor realized her voice had dropped to a whisper but couldn't force it any louder.

"Your mother died in front of your crib defending you. And then he tried to cast the Killing Curse on you." At this point the Gryffindor Head of House's voice completely gave out.

Filius picked up the story for her. "That is when a miracle happed, Mr Potter. The Curse bounced off of you and rebounded onto You-Know-Who. His body was destroyed and you were left alive, but with that Curse scar on your forehead. We don't understand it but somehow a fifteen month old child managed to resist an unblockable curse and defeat the Dark Lord. You are famous in the magical world. They call you 'The-Boy-Who-Lived'."

Little Mr Potter looked shocked and stricken at the professors' revelations. Minerva could only guess at the thoughts running through the poor wean's head. So much dropped on him at once. She'd warned Albus that the Durselys were the worst kind of Muggles. She caught his correction from calling them family.

Minerva conjured three cups of tea. The boy could use it to settle himself. While he sipped his tea, the two professors proceeded to inform him about magic, the magical world and Hogwarts. It was the standard introduction given to Muggle-born students they had done many times before.

"If you wish, Mr Potter, we can take you to Diagon Alley to get your school supplies now," Minerva offered.

The boy nodded, "I guess. I don't think my relatives would take me."

Minerva couldn't suppress a sniff at this comment. She frowned at his small smile at the sound but she was pleased to see it.

The trip to Diagon Alley was almost as bad as Minerva feared.

During the short walk to the out of sight location where she and Flilius arrived at, Mr Potter resumed his earlier questions about her animagus form. She explained it was an advanced technique of Transfiguration requiring a great deal of expertise and practice. Only seven people in the last century had registered success in developing the skill. While Mr Potter seemed a bit saddened by her explanation he had cheered up a bit when she assured him he would be able to do so if he followed his father's footsteps as she had no doubt James Potter would have been successful in the endeavour.

The goblins were the easiest part of the trip although the cart ride disturbed her stomach. She was surprised at the number of coins in Mr Potter's trust vault but a discrete question to their goblin escort explained the wealth. The Ministry paid the bounty for the apparent death of the Dark Lord and paid above market value when they purchased the house the Potters hid in to make it a national landmark. In addition, many private citizens sent money to thank their saviour. While the Potters were a very old and magically powerful family, they had never been in the wealthy political elite of the nation like the Longbottoms or Malfoys. While they owned a fair amount of land in Wales, the family was known for its fighters and magical researchers, not politicians or financiers.

Their next two stops went smoothly enough. They purchased Mr Potter's trunk, potions and astronomy supplies with a minimum of fuss. It was in Flourish and Blotts that they encountered their first difficulty. Mr Potter picked up the standard First year texts but decided to pick up a couple of extras for 'background' reading. She was fine with the recent history and Wizarding culture texts but tried to draw the line when she noticed he had picked up a couple of books on dark or highly magical creatures.

On hearing her protests, Mr Potter merely shrugged, saying, "I enjoy reading about the creatures the normal world thinks of as myths. I am really curious to learn what the magical world knows about them."

It was at Madam Malkins that things started to go sideways.

Mr Potter was waiting to be sized when several school age students walked in. She did not recognize them so they must be magically raised students she did not have to visit.

One cute young girl of Indian descent with her long dark hair hanging loose approached Mr Potter. "Are you going to Hogwarts also?"

"Um, yes."

"Hi, I am Padma Patil. That is my twin sister Parvati." She indicated an identical looking girl except her hair was woven into a tight plait. "And those are our friends Daphne Greengrass, Anthony Goldstein, Su Li, and Megan Jones. What is your name?"

"Harry. Harry Potter."

All movement in the shop came to a standstill as Mr Potter's words carried.

"Are you really?" the girl asked in innocent surprise. "I heard you were supposed to be in our class but no one was sure you would be going to Hogwarts. Did you really grow up in the Muggle world? My father says you did but he tries to be funny sometimes."

It warmed to professor's heart to see the boy interacting with other magical children his own age. Harry was a bit shy and shocked at their excitement to meet him, but Minerva thought he handled it well.

What she was not prepared for was the huge crowd that had formed outside the shop. She guessed someone in the shop heard Mr Potter's name and slipped outside to announce it. She was thankful Filius had accompanied her as the rest of the trip had them dealing with the crowd of people that followed them. Fortunately, only a stop at Ollivander's was really required. It was unfortunate the boy would not be able to explore the Alley a bit but such was life.

They were approaching the Apparition point when Minerva drew tired of the crowd trailing them. In a fit of pique she rounded on them and proceeded to inform them exactly what she thought of their behaviour. She was moderately pleased at how the crowd, many of them former students, recoiled from her remonstration and left the area.

Feeling pleased, she turned back to Mr Potter and Filius. Filius looked impressed with her ability to chase off the crowd. Mr Potter seemed to have enjoyed it also as he was smiling as he put his glasses back on. They must have gotten dirty and he took the pause as a chance to clean them.

"Very well, let's get you home, Mr Potter."


	3. Hogwarts

**AN: Yes another chapter! **

**I don't usually leave comments in stories about particular reviews. However, I received a review from the last chapter saying how much they liked the story but I was a deviant pervert for making a slash story with an adult teacher and an underage child. They reached this conclusion because I originally identified Harry and Remus as the two main characters. Maybe this was because the original story was told from their two points of view? (No logic allowed!) Just to be clear: I have no plans to have any mention of sex (straight, gay, or necro-beastiality) in this story. Harry's eventual relationship with Remus is as mentor/pack member.**

**One other comment. Harry is AU but the other characters are canon until impacted by AU Harry. We are all the main characters in our own story. Like the previous chapters, most of this one is written someone other than Harry's point of view. We know Harry's thoughts and motivations from canon. What about Hermione and Ron?  
**

**Hogwarts**

1 September 1991

To say Hermione Granger was excited to be heading off to her new school would be something of an understatement. Like saying Bill Gates had some money or calling the wreck of the Titanic a minor bump. She would finally have a place to belong; where she wasn't the odd ball that had weird things happen to her.

Since receiving her acceptance letter, she had worked to ensure she was completely prepared to succeed in her new environment. Every text book had been read cover to cover at least once (although she did have some concern that it wasn't enough) as well as the additional material she had purchased on Wizarding history and culture.

Hermione had arrived very early as her parents had appointments later in the morning. That was fine. It gave her time to find a compartment and review her Transfiguration text. The inquisitive witch did spend some time questioning the engineer on the magical operation of the Hogwarts Express. To her disappointment, while the man knew how to operate the train his knowledge of the magical theory behind it was sorely lacking.

Shortly before the train left the station, she was joined by a slightly chubby boy with brown hair. When she attempted to introduce herself he just mumbled out "Neville Longbottom". He seemed rather shy so she just went back to her book.

The train was about halfway to Hogwarts (based on her questioning of the engineer) when Neville suddenly let out a yelp and started searching about frantically.

"Did you lose something, Neville?" Hermione asked.

"Trevor. I've lost Trevor. Gram is going to be so angry." The boy was actually trembling.

"Nonsense," Hermione responded. "I will help you look. Now, what does your toad look like?" She had not noticed an owl or cat in the compartment. That meant the animal in question must be a toad.

Neville looked at her oddly. "He's a toad. He's green with warts."

Hermione huffed at the boy's lack of detail. "Oh, very well. There cannot be too many toads running about free, after all. You continue to check in here and I shall check the rest of this car."

The young witch received several no's with varying levels of politeness from the other students. Most of them were older students that didn't want to be bothered by a 'kid'. But it was at the compartment three down from hers that she received her strangest welcome.

An explosion

"What was that?" she asked in an indignant voice.

"Sorry about that," a boy's voice answered while she tried to clear her eyes. "I didn't expect anyone to open the door just then."

Her eyes clear, Hermione looked into the compartment with indignation written all over her face. Inside the car, two boys and two girls were sitting on the floor facing each other with a deck of cards spread out in front of them. Hermione absently noted the girls on the floor were twins. Another boy and girl were sitting on one of the bench seats. Both the boys on the floor were dark-haired while the one on the bench had brilliant red hair. The girl sitting on the bench with him had long blonde hair but a rather serious expression.

"I am sorry," a boy on the floor repeated. "I knew the card was about to go and I didn't want to be holding it."

Hermione noticed the boy had bright green eyes behind an old pair of glasses and very messy hair. She resisted the urge to go find a hair brush and a grooming kit.

"And what were you doing that caused that explosion?" she demanded.

One of the twins held up a card. "We were showing Harry and Tony how to play Exploding Snap."

"Exploding Snap? I've read about it but have not seen it before." Honestly, Hermione couldn't see the point of wasting time on such a thing when there was so much that they needed to learn.

The boy named Tony smiled up at her. "Are you Muggle-born like me or just raised in the Muggle world like Harry here?"

"My parents are dentists. I did not know about magic until Professor McGonagall called on us with my acceptance letter," Hermione answered. "But I've tried some spells since I purchased my wand and books. So far everything has worked for me rather well."

The girl on the bench grinned at that. "You do realize that after we start school we won't be allowed to use our wands outside of school until we turn seventeen, right? The only reason you didn't get into trouble this summer was the charm wasn't on it yet."

Hermione felt shocked at that news. "Why? How will we be able to practice without magic?"

"They don't think we can be trusted not to do magic around Muggles during the summer. Which seems odd for those of us that live in the Wizarding World year round. We don't even have any Muggles living near my house. Plus the wards keep them out of sight."

The other one of twins looked up at the blonde girl saying, "Well I found out there are some loopholes in that law. If your house has heavy duty wards the Ministry can't detect your wand being used. Also, if you can use a wand that belongs to someone over seventeen the tracing charm is gone."

"Well, that hardly seems fair," Hermione huffed. "How are the Muggle-born supposed to keep up?"

The red-haired boy shrugged. "Mum wouldn't let us use that anyway. She always takes my older brothers' wands for the summer as soon as they got home. I'd rather fly anyway."

"I am sure there must be a logical explanation," Hermione commented, more to herself then to the other students. She resolved to look up the law on her first trip to the library. Then she remembered the original purpose of her visit.

"I am helping a boy named Neville look for his toad. Have any of you seen it?" she asked. She received all negative replies; noting the girls seemed to share her opinion of owning a toad.

"Okay, I will keep looking. Thank you." Hermione moved to close the compartment door.

"Wait, one of the girls called out. "What is your name?"

Hermione felt her face blush at her rudeness. "Oh, I am sorry. I am Hermione Granger."

"Hi Hermione. I am Parvati Patil. This is my sister Padma." She indicated the bench. "That is Daphne Greengrass and Ron Weasley. And these two are Harry Potter and Anthony …"

"Tony"

"Sorry, Tony Goldstein"

Hermione focused on the boy with messy hair and glasses. "Harry Potter? Are you really? I've read all about you of course. I picked up some extra material when we went to get our class texts."

Harry frowned. "I probably read some of the same rubbish. None of them got much right and they certainly didn't get my life after my parents' murder right."

"They could not publish it if it wasn't true," Hermione protested. "I read scholarly works that had proper citations and everything. Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts even won the Golden Quill award last year! So it must be the truth."

Harry scowled at her protest. "Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts provides a blow by blow account of the fight with my parents. How would they know? The book claims 'eyewitness accounts'. My parents couldn't tell them. Voldemort (here everyone jumped a bit at the name) wasn't in any condition to tell them, and I probably just wanted my nappies changed. On top of that, I can tell you I sure didn't grow up in a hidden Potter Manor or a castle floating in the clouds."

Harry paused to grin. "Okay, the castle in the clouds one would have been cool."

Then his grin dropped away as quickly as it came. "Not one fact of my life since that night is correct in those books. That rather throws the rest of their 'facts' into question too. Doesn't it?"

Hermione was taken aback by the vehemence in the Boy-Who-Lived's voice.

"I … I am sorry," she stammered before closing the door and making her escape. She felt like such a fool. She had embarrassed herself in front of the most famous young wizard in the entire world. This wasn't a great start to her Hogwarts career.

Well, she would just help Neville find his toad and focus on her classes. Surely if she performed well in her classes they would accept her and it would all be forgotten.

-I-

Ron Weasley was having a wonderful time on his first trip to Hogwarts.

The day hadn't started that great. He had stayed up late the night before in his excitement of finally going to Hogwarts. Then he'd overslept and barely had time to eat enough breakfast before leaving for Kings Cross.

When they had arrived at the station, his mum had led them through the Muggle potion of the station. He didn't remember doing that before with his brothers but he reckoned his mum knew what she was doing. He was a bit concerned when she asked what the platform number was though. Was she lost?

In the end they reached the platform just before the train was due to leave. Fred and George helped get his trunk on board before leaving to see their friend Lee and his pet spider. He'd be lucky if the gits didn't put it in his bed tonight. He swore he'd kill it if they did.

He started down the train looking for a compartment. Most of them seemed to be full or had much older students in them. A few had students that were probably Second or Third years but he really wanted to sit with some students in his own year.

Finally he came across a compartment that had some First years in it. It looked a bit full but he hadn't seen anything better yet. He opened the door just as the train jerked as it started to pull out of the station.

"Do you have room for one more?" he asked.

"Come on in," a boy invited. "We were outnumbered until now."

"Tony, you would be outnumbered in a room by yourself," a blonde girl commented with a sweet smile.

"Be careful, mate," Ron warned, "when my sister smiles like that I find someplace to hide."

The blonde turned her smile on Ron. "Oh how nice. A male that has already been partially trained." The girls started to laugh while the blokes shared commiserating looks.

"So, come on in," the boy who had been silent until now. "Have a seat. The girls have been trying to scare Tony and me with rumours of the Sorting."

"Well, my brothers said we have to fight a troll but I don't believe them."

Before Ron could sit down, one of the girls changed seats to sit between the other two boys. That left the only seat left between the two girls. The blonde patted the seat next to her.

The other girl, a twin to the one that moved, smiled and said, "Have a seat. We don't bite."

"Much," the blonde added.

Ron's face turned a tomato red as he sat down between the two girls. Fortunately, the seat was wide enough to fit three adults so there was plenty of room for three eleven year-olds to sit without touching.

Ron soon learned the twins were that Patil sisters while the blonde girl was Daphne Greengrass. All three were Purebloods raised in the magical world. The Patils were born in India but the family moved to London when they were three according to Parvati. Anthony (call me Tony!) Goldstein was a Muggleborn but his aunt was a witch that attended Hogwarts. His aunt and Daphne's mum were friends from school and were still best friends although his aunt worked in the Muggle world as a doctor. His aunt recognized his early accidental magic letting him in on the secret early. He had been introduced to Daphne and through her to the Patils back at the start of summer.

His biggest surprise was to find out the other boy was Harry Potter!

"Bloody hell! Do…do you have the scar?" he blurted out.

Harry looked a bit annoyed but brushed aside his fringe to reveal a thin, white lightning bolt shaped scar. It was highlighted slightly by the light tan colour of his skin but it blended in surprisingly well. Ron had to really look and he was just a short distance away.

"That's wicked, mate!"

Now Harry looked really annoyed.

"It is not wicked. It is a reminder of what killed my parents."

Ron felt like he'd been told the Quidditch season was called off. "Er, sorry mate. It's just … well my mum lost her two brothers in the war. We're just happy it's over."

Harry grimaced. "I guess. It still bothers me though."

Padma patted Harry's knee and said, "We won't talk about it anymore. Will we?" The last part was said to the rest of the compartment.

After a short, awkward period, the conversation turned to other areas. Ron was quiet for a bit but perked up when the talk turned to his favourite topic.

Quidditch

They started explaining Quidditch to Harry. Tony had managed to see three matches over the summer and was an instant fan. The Patils proved to be Harpies fans while Tony backed Montrose Magpies. Ron, of course, backed his beloved Cannons.

"Sure they had a few bad seasons, but they added Gowan as Seeker and Smyth as Keeper. Plus their coach is brilliant! They're on the ups!"

Daphne gave him a smirk. "So, you like their coach? I heard he's something of a goofball. Thinks he's something special just going by his first name."

Ron's face turned red with indignation. "Coach Steven has the best tactical mind in the game today!" he protested indignantly. "And _Quidditch Week_ named him Leader of the Year after he became acting coach of the Wasps and led them to the league championships!"

Parvati grinned across to her sister. "I think Ron's in love."

"Do you sleep in a Cannons jersy?" Padma asked.

"Or maybe cuddled up with a stuffed Chudley the mascot?" Daphne asked. "That would be soooo cute!" she gushed.

Ron's indignation grew as the girls continued to wind him up. The other two boys wisely kept their mouths shut and enjoyed the show. The girls' taunting continued as Ron's face grew red. Parvati seemed to take great enjoyment out of commenting on Ron's adoration of Coach Steven.

Finally, Daphne took pity on him.

"Oh, relax Weasley before you hurt yourself." Ron continued to huff. "Do you know your hero's last name?"

"Yes!" Ron spit out. "It's Green…" Ron's eyes popped out a bit.

Daphne nodded. "He's my father. We were just having some fun with you."

The rest of the compartment's occupants started to laugh at the look of shock on Ron's face as Daphne grinned impishly at him.

"That's not funny," he grumbled. "That was mean. I was right about you being as bad as Ginny."

Eventually, Ron and Daphne started up a serious conversation about the Cannons chances at the League Cup that year. The others started playing Exploding Snap on the floor.

They were interrupted by a girl with buck teeth and thick bushy hair looking for a toad. While her visit started nicely enough, it soon turned nasty when the girl mentioned the published accounts of the fall of You-Know-Who. The girl fled soon afterwards.

The compartment was quiet for several moments after she left.

"I shouldn't have blown up like that," Harry admitted quietly.

"Maybe not," Padma allowed, "but it was kind of understandable."

Parvati nodded agreement. "She was a bit pushy about it."

"Definitely a future Ravenclaw," Daphne commented condescendingly. "Too much time with her nose in a book, her head in the clouds and a wand up her arse."

Padma glared back at the girl. "I want to be in Ravenclaw."

Daphne smiled back innocently. "Oh, I forgot that. Sorry." Parvati and Tony started to laugh at the two friends while Ron just shook his head in disbelief.

'She's even worse than Ginny! Girls, they are all barmy. But at least she likes the Cannons

-II-

The rest of the ride to Hogwarts was nice but not much happened. They introduced Harry to Chocolate Frogs and Wizard Cards. No one visited them although they saw several people moving up and down the passageway.

Once they arrived in Hogsmeade, the older students went one direction while the First years were called over to a giant man. Ron guessed from Fred and George's stories that this was Hagrid. Hagrid led them to the Black Lake where a bunch of small boats were waiting.

It was during the walk to the lake that the whispering started. Some people had seen Harry's scar and guessing if it was really him. Ron looked over at the silent boy. He must have heard them also but he ignored them.

When they reached the boats Hagrid seated them four to a boat. Ron joined Harry and Tony. A fourth boy named Neville joined them with a toad grasped tightly in his hands. The girls were in the boat in front of them joined by a girl with long, auburn hair.

Hagrid delivered the First years to Professor McGonagall. He had definitely heard of her. For the last two years it didn't seem a week went by that Mum hadn't received an owl from the Gryffindor Head of House reporting on something the twins had done. Ron had caught the brunt of Molly Weasley's rants on their behaviour as the only Weasley son there. It left an impression on him.

The stern professor welcomed them to Hogwarts and then told them to wait until she returned. It was as they waited that the trouble started.

A boy with almost white blond hair strutted up to Harry. Just watching the boy walk made Ron want to hex him.

"They are saying you are Harry Potter."

"Are they?" Harry responded. "That's good to know."

The boy scowled briefly. "Are you?"

Harry shrugged. The other boy took is as confirmation though. He put out his hand.

"I'm Draco Malfoy. I can help you settle into our world. You don't want to make the mistake of taking up with the wrong sort now do you." The boy glanced at Ron with a sneer as he added the last part. Now Ron really wanted to smack him. Plus he had heard plenty about the Malfoy family from his dad.

To Ron's disbelief, Harry reached out to shake blonde ponce's hand!

"Nice to meet you Draco." Harry gave the boy's hand a firm shake but didn't let go.

"Wasn't your father forced to serve Voldemort by that mind curse? Thank goodness what happened to Voldemort was able to free his mind. Imagine being stuck under a curse that you weren't strong enough to fight! That would be horrible!"

Ron was confused. Harry seemed sympathetic but Malfoy seemed to be getting paler and seemed to be wincing a bit.

Professor McGonagall appeared in the doorway and ordered them to line up. When Ron looked back, Harry had release Malfoy's hand. The Boy-Who-Lived said, "I am sure we can get together sometime soon and you can tell me all about who the right sort are. Good luck with your Sorting!" The blonde ponce disappeared without a word.

"Harry, be careful of him," Ron whispered earnestly. "The Malfoys are as Dark as they come. Every one of them have been in Slytherin!"

Ron felt someone smack his arm. He turned in surprise to see Daphne standing there. "Whadja do that for?" he demanded.

"My family has all been in Slytherin too! Including my father, you git!" The girl them stormed off in the direction the professor had gone.

Ron just stood in shock. Coach Steven was a slimy Slytherin?

-III-

Two months into school and Ron felt like his world was upside down. And it had started off so well.

The ride on the Express was brilliant; everything he had been told it would be. He was accepted into a compartment with a bunch of other new students. It was very different to be around a lot of people he wasn't related to. He was the only red-head in the compartment. Also during that ride, Ron met his first celebrity (Harry), his first Jew (Tony) and his first Indians (the Patil sisters). And then he met someone as excited about the Cannons as he was.

Like most eleven year-old boys, Ron still thought of girls as incomprehensible alien creatures that he really didn't want anything much to do with. But here was someone that knew as much about the Cannons' history as Ron did himself with the added bonus of inside information through her father. When Ron started in on his analysis of the Cannons Daphne was right there with him agreeing on some points while arguing back when she thought he was off base. Ron had never been so excited and happy in his life.

That was when it all came crashing down on him. First he saw Harry Potter shake Draco Malfoy's hand of all people. Then Daphne told him that her entire family including her father had been in Slytherin! Ten minutes later he watched her go to the Snake House.

He thought things were turning around when he was put into Gryffindor along with Harry and one of the Patil sisters. The pushy know-it-all from the Express, Granger, was there too but he just ignored her. His three older brothers had stood to welcome him to Gryffindor. It was fantastic.

Then classes started.

The Weasley's could not afford to send their children to a Wizarding day-school for their early years. It was almost as much as Hogwarts and they needed all of their money plus their scholarships for that school. So the Weasley children were schooled at home by their mum. Their 'classes' were very informal They didn't have homework really and Ron was able to move around frequently. He couldn't stand sitting still too long. Mrs Weasley would often let him out to run about the garden a bit or toss some gnomes to burn off energy.

Hogwarts was a shock to Ron. Every class gave homework every night! Ron's poor hand was so cramped. He swore he wrote more feet of parchment in his first week then in all his time at the Barrow. When was he supposed to find the time for all of it? And that crazy bint Granger kept volunteering to do more of it! Ron just wanted to get out of the castle and into the fresh air, away from the smells of parchment and ink.

Casting spells was alright but it took him a bit to get the hang of it. Mum had tried to teach him some Latin but it was weird trying to pronounce some of the words. Why couldn't they just cast spells in plain old English? None of this foreign mumbo-jumbo.

The social side wasn't much better.

Harry was still friendly but the Patils and Tony were not happy over his comments to Daphne. Which wasn't even fair. He never said anything to Daphne. He was talking to Harry. How was he supposed to know he family was Slytherin? She seemed so nice on the train. When he tried to talk to Parvati in the Gryffindor Common room, she called him a 'gormless git with the brains of a flobber worm." Of course it didn't help that Ron's mouth took over and called her a traitor to Gryffindor for defending a Slytherin. Harry started avoiding him after that.

Daphne was not someone he wanted to think about. She had seemed so nice. How could she be a Snake? It didn't fit with everything he had heard growing up. Ron had been ranting on that one night when Harry got sick of it and said the Hat wanted to put him in Slytherin. Then he asked Ron if that made him evil too.

Ron was shocked to his core. But once again he mouth started before his brain. "Well, of course not. You chose to be here, not with them!" Harry walked away in disgust and wouldn't speak of it again.

Now it was Halloween, two months since arriving at Hogwarts and Ron's frustration and anger were at their peak. He just couldn't take it anymore. And then it all came to a head in Charms class.

"You're saying it wrong," Granger harped in her bossy know-it-all voice. "It's Wing-gar-dium Levi-o-sa, make the 'gar' nice and long."

"You do it then if you're so clever," Ron snarled.1

Then the bushy haired witch rolled up her sleeves and did just that! That this Muggle-born could simply come in here and make all his struggles look effortless was infuriating! But Ron grit his teeth and struggle through the rest of class. What _she_ got on her first try, he took the entire class period.

The sight of the witch asking Flitwick for an extra credit assignment was too much for Ron.

"It's no wonder no one can stand her," he said to Harry as they pushed their way into the crowded corridor, "she's a nightmare, honestly"

Harry bumped into Ron as someone else shoved past the dark-haired boy. Ron recognized the hair as coming from his nemesis.

"I think she heard you," Harry muttered. Ron could see that Harry was not happy about the what Ron had said.

The anger in Ron faltered at Harry's expression. Then he thought about what his mum would say if she had seen what happened. A voice inside told him he was wrong, but he tried to justify it anyway.

"So? She must've noticed she's got no friends," Ron muttered back. Harry just gave him that look again and moved off. Ron tried to follow him but lost the other boy in the crowd.

-IV-

Ron was rather quiet the rest of the day. Harry didn't talk to him either although he did allow Ron to sit next to him in classes. The other Gryffindor boys didn't seem to know what happened although from their glares the girls sure did. Ron tried to ignore the fact Granger never showed up for the rest of the day's classes or lunch.

Ron was looking forward to the forgetting the day's problems at the Halloween feast. He was trailing Harry when Parvati approached the Boy-Who-Lived with Lavender in tow. Ron could just hear the conversation.

"Hermione's been crying in the bathroom since after Charms class. She won't come out," Parvati said.

"Yah. I don't like her much but this does seem a bit over the top doesn't it?" Lavender commented in an airy voice.

Parvati shot her friend a glance. "Hermione's been having a hard time of it. I think she's a bit homesick and feels like she doesn't fit in. Weasley seems to have a real talent for chocking things up."

The Great Hall looked fantastic but Ron didn't really notice. He just concentrated on eating and not meeting anyone's eyes.

Ron looked up with a start when the doors to the Great Hall suddenly swung open. Professor Quirrell sprinted in his robe and turban askew and a look of pure terror on his face.

The Defence professor reached the main table and gasped out, "Troll- in the dungeon- thought you ought to know."

Then he sank to the floor in a dead faint.

The hall want crazy as the students (and some teachers) started to panic. Dumbledore used his wand to create some loud noises and get everyone's attention. Then he ordered to the Prefects to take the students back to their dorms while the staff dealt with the troll.

Ron was starting to follow the group his brother Percy was leading when Harry grabbed him.

"Hermione, she doesn't know about the troll."

Ron saw the expression on Harry's face and his conscience flared bit. "Oh, all right. But Percy better not see us."

The two First years trailed Percy's group out of the Great Hall but turned up another corridor and started off towards the girls bathroom.

"Someone's coming," Harry hissed. "Back in the alcove."

Ron complied but muttered, "I don't hear anyone."

"Shh!"

Sure enough, ten seconds later Professor Snape stalks past their hiding spot with his robe flaring out dramatically behind. Ron tensed as the man passed. The greasy git would love to catch them out.

"Come on," Harry said. "We have to hurry."

They had just about reached the girls bathroom when Harry stopped suddenly. Ron almost plowed right into him.

"Whadja do that for?" Ron asked irritably.

"The troll- its nearby."

"How do you know that?"

A sudden scream erupted from within the bathroom. Then a roar and the sounds of cracking wood.

"_Hermione_!" Ron said in shock.

"Hurry!" Harry shouted as he sprinted towards the bathroom. Ron was right behind him running into the bathroom.

Inside the bathroom they were greeted by the sight of a giant troll holding a club and standing in the wreckage of several bathroom stalls. Water was spraying everywhere from the shattered porcelain toilets. Hermione Granger was huddled on the ground against the wall just outside the last stall remaining. The troll seemed to be looking for the girl. Ron guessed the water spraying about and Hermione's black school robes made it hard for the dim-witted troll to see her.

"Confuse it!" Harry shouted.

Ron stepped into the room and started waving his arms over his head. "Oy, pea-brain! Over here!"

The troll turned to see the boy at the other end of the room. It let out a roar and started towards him while raising his club.

Harry sprinted down the wall to Hermione. Ron saw him grab her arm and try to get her to stand up. The girl's face was so white with fear Ron could see it clearly the whole length of the room away. Ron was still jumping about distracting the troll but he did see Harry suddenly grab Hermione and pick her up before turning and running right past the troll and out of the room.

Ron turned to follow but the troll swung its club knocking debris everywhere. A piece of porcelain smashed into Ron sending him to the ground. Several pieces of the stall landed between Ron and the door cutting off his escape.

His wand out, Ron thought feverishly to come up with a spell that would help him. He didn't know many damn it!

Then a black furry shape shot into the room and leapt onto the trolls back. The troll shrieked in agony as the creature latched its teeth onto the troll's neck. Even the troll's thick skin gave into the pressure from the jaws and sharp teeth. The troll's thick green blood was rolling down its side.

The troll dropped its club whipped around trying to dislodge its attacker. It wasn't until the troll's back was to Ron that he could clearly see the creature. It looked sort of like a werewolf but not like any he'd ever seen pictures of. It was then Ron noticed the new creature was wearing the same baggy pants Ron had seen earlier that day. Except now they weren't baggy at all. It was Harry. Somehow the creature was Harry Potter!

The troll was winning its fight to shake Harry loose. Ron knew he had to do _something_ to help.

"_Wingardium Leviosa_!"

The trolls club smashed down onto its own head just as Harry was thrown off. The troll gave a groan as it dropped to its knees and then slumped to the ground.

Ron stood shocked at what he'd managed to do. Then he noticed the creature walking towards him. Yet as it walked, Ron saw its hair shrinking and its features changing. By the time it reached Ron, it was a topless human Harry Potter in baggy pants.

Harry clapped Ron on the shoulder. "I'm glad you learned that spell." Ron was too stunned to speak.

"What the bloody hell was that?" a new voice shrieked.

Standing in the doorway was a drenched Hermione Granger. She was looking at Harry with wide eyes. She was also holding the rest of Harry's clothes.

Harry frowned and said, "Look, we don't have time for this right now. The professors are almost here. We just tell them what happened but not mention my other form, okay? I'll explain later."

Ron said okay, but Hermione just nodded and held out Harry's clothes. Harry smiled but first went over to one of the water sprays to wash off the troll blood. He'd just gotten his robe and shoes back on when McGonagall, Snape and Quirrell burst into the room.

McGonagall took in the unconscious troll, the destruction of the room and her three First years. Quirrell looked ready to faint and Snape went to check on the troll but McGonagall turned on her students demanding what had happened.

Harry started to talk but was cut off by Hermione.

"I wanted to research my assignment for Charms and missed dinner. I was on my way back to the dorm when the troll found me. It chased me in here. Harry and Ron realized I didn't know about the troll and came to find me. If they hadn't the troll would have killed me."

Ron was staring at the girl in shock. The little know-it-all and rules follower was lying to a teacher? He was impressed.

A modified version of the story came out starting from Hermione's point of view and then Harry took over at the point he and Ron arrived. For once, Ron was able to keep his mouth shut and not mess things up. McGonagall actually looked impressed at Ron's use of the Levitation Charm to knock out the troll.

"Very well, Mr Potter, Mr Weasley five points each for managing to defeat a full-grown mountain troll and help a fellow student. I would give more but if you had simply told a prefect you wouldn't have had to do so. It is one thing to be brave and another to be foolish. Now off with you."

They thanked the professor and left immediately. The trio remained quiet the whole walk back to Gryffindor tower. Just before they reached the entrance to the tower, Hermion grabbed both of them and pulled them into an unused classroom. She shut the door behind them and fixed Harry with a stern look.

"Now, what was that?" she demanded.

**AN: I wanted to use this Yoda quote for Ron but the movie wasn't even out yet.**

**Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering.**

**-YODA, _Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace_**

**1 Taken from HP and the Sorcerer's Stone (US hardcover edition), p171-2**


	4. Care of Magical Creatures

**Care of Magical Creatures**

Hermione Granger was a witch on a mission. She had been having the worst day of her life. And she hadn't been having a very good year so far either.

Adjusting to her new school had not been easy. She had been disappointed when rather than being impressed by her magical knowledge, many of the students and staff of Hogwarts reacted no better than her old school did. She honestly couldn't see why people reacted negatively to her efforts to achieve her full potential. If they wanted to waste their potential that was their issue, but why did they look down on her for trying to fulfil hers?

Today had been the worst. Her mother's letter that morning hinted at pulling her from Hogwarts to send her to her parents' alma mater of St. Agnes School for Ladies and Gentlemen. Her mother was still stunned by the revelation her daughter was a witch and was concerned about Hermione's future career without a university degree. Then after breakfast that senseless oaf Ronald Weasley was made her partner working on the Levitation Charm. Honestly, the boy must be more than a bit slow not being able to cast such a simple spell. He had no cause to snap at her for merely trying to assist him. But it was his comments after class was over that was the final breaking point.

It didn't help that the person Ronald Weasley was complaining about her to was Harry Potter. The Boy-Who-Lived seemed rather quiet but confident in himself. He didn't use his fame but still seemed quite popular. He appeared to do well in class but not to the point he attracted the professors' attention or gain many points. Professor Snape seemed to hate Harry Potter but since their second class had left the boy alone aside from a few verbal barbs. In fact he seemed to wince every time he so much as looked at Harry Potter. It was very odd.

Logically, she knew it was pointless to spend the whole day crying in the girls bathroom all day. She actually missed all of her classes! But that final rejection hurt too much. Several girls had come in during the day. The Patil sisters came in with her other roommate Lavender and another girl from Ravenclaw. They tried to get her to come to lunch but she just couldn't go.

Eventually, her stomach reminded her that she hadn't eaten since breakfast. She was probably late for dinner but she was sure she could find something to eat. After washing her face one last time, Hermione opened the door to leave the bathroom.

And immediately wished she hadn't.

Stomping down the hall towards her was a huge humanoid creature she recognized from her books as an adult male mountain troll! What was that thing doing in Hogwarts?

Hermione heard someone scream. It was only when the troll fixed its eyes on her that she realized she was the one screaming. The hideous creature made a snarling noise before raising its club and charging forward.

The troll smashed through the door with a ferocious roar. Its club quickly turned the nearby stalls into so much kindling. It accidently smashed one of the toilets sending out a spray of water that hit it directly in the face. The enraged troll just started smashing everything in sight including two more of the toilets. Water was now spraying everywhere. The just made the creature angrier. Hermione huddled down against the wall in her drenched school robes praying the troll didn't notice her.

That was when the boys arrived. She couldn't see that huddled in her robe but she could hear them. Ron started yelling at the troll and then suddenly Harry was there pulling at her arm, telling her to get up; to run.

Hermione found her muscles wouldn't move. She could only stand there in shock watching Ronald Weasly jump about waving his arms and yelling. Was that boy trying to get smashed to a pulp?

Suddenly, Hermione found herself effortlessly lifted off the ground and thrown over Harry Potter's shoulder. The Boy-Who-Lived sprinted past the troll and out the door and into the hall. Harry quickly set her down and turned back towards the bathroom. Hermione could see the troll was now between him and the door. The idiot had distracted the troll but cut off his only escape!

"Damn it!" Harry growled. For a moment he looked undecided before muttering, "To hell with it." Before Hermione could ask, the famous boy had ripped of his school robe and shirt while kicking off his trainers and tossing his glasses aside. Hermione started to protest when Harry charged forward. And as he charged, he started to change.

It was no longer Harry Potter that re-entered the bathroom. He didn't look like one of the werewolves she had seen illustrated in her books. He was bigger and furrier for one and moved way too gracefully for another. Werewolves were feral creatures. Yet it was obvious that a human mind guided the creature as it (insanely) leapt onto the troll's back.

This was something outside her books. What was going on here?

-I-

Just before the entrance to the Gryffindor tower was an old classroom Hermione had used before for private study time. She grabbed both boys and dragged them into the room. She pushed them inside, closing the door behind her.

Fixing a glare on the Boy-Who-Lived, Hermione demanded, "Now, what was that? And don't tell me that was normal in the magical world! …"

"I'll say it wasn't," interjected a still-shocked Ron. Hermione just kept going as if he hadn't said anything.

"I've read about animagi and werewolves and that was neither! I just lied to a teacher! I have a right to know what is going on!"

Harry frowned at bit and leaned back against a desk. He took off his glasses and glared at her. Hermione recoiled from the unbridled power in his gaze.

"A right to know?" he repeated softly; the undertones of a growl present. "What happened is we just saved your life. Does it really matter how?"

Hermione's demanding pose collapsed. He was right. He had just saved her life. The look in the boy's eyes made a part of her want to run.

"Please?" she pleaded. "I just want to know. I won't tell anyone."

"Me too," Ron added. "I won't tell, mate."

Harry seemed to consider them for a moment before putting his glasses back on. They seemed to diminish the power in his gaze somehow. "Ron knows something about werewolves in the wizarding world. You've probably read about them too. The problem is I am not really a werewolf."

Hermione nodded, her mind engaged. "You changed during the day, it's not a full moon, and your human side stayed in control. Also your form looked different than the werewolves in the books."

Harry gave a wary smile at Hermione's run down. "Something like that," he agreed.

"I was bitten by something a couple of years ago. I guess you could say I got all feverish and next thing I know is it is five days later and I can change into the Beast. Er, that's what I call it. Plus my normal form grew and became a lot stronger. My senses improved in human form too. I used to be almost blind without my glasses. Now I have better than 20/20 vision."

"Why the glasses then, mate, if you don't need 'em?" Ron asked.

Harry took off the glassed and looked at them again. The raw power that made Hermione scared before was back even without the angry glare. She noticed Ron took a step back at the sight. After a second, Harry put his glasses back on.

"These are actually weak sunglasses but the lenses are polarized. The tinting cuts down on the shine from my eyes and the polarization seems to remove the whatever it is that freaks people out. I've tried other glasses but without the polarization people still freak out." A smile quickly crossed Harry's face. "It is great for crowd control though."

"Huh?"

"Never mind, Ron. Anyway, I researched everything I could find in the non-magical world on werewolves and lycanthropy. Then this summer I looked into what the magical world knew about them. But I am closer to a Hollywood version of a werewolf than what the magical world knows."

Harry paused to look first at Ron then Hermione. Hermione could tell he was considering what to say.

"One of the first things I learned from the books is how werewolves are treated in the magical world. I really don't want to become a public freak show." Harry paused a second before wry adding, "At least more of a freak show then the Boy-Who-Lived already is."

Ron slowly nodded with a serious thinking expression that surprised Hermione. In a quiet voice, he said, "My dad works for the Ministry. They don't even see werewolves as human anymore. They are handled by the same department that handles hippogriffs and giants. One of the Aurors was bitten last year. They immediately fired him and said he couldn't have his pension as that was only for humans. His wife left him and took his kids. I heard Dad tell Mum she had their memories changed so they don't remember him anymore. Dad was furious when he heard. They were mates at Hogwarts."

Hermione felt devastated at that. To take away a child's memory of their parent was horrible! "That's barbaric! How can they treat someone that way just because they are infected! It's terrible!"

Ron flinched at her glare. "Don't blame me! Dad tried to help Auror Forman but there was only so much he could do without getting in trouble at work."

Harry nodded grimly. "That is why I don't want this getting out. Honestly, I wouldn't have shown you now but it was kind of an emergency."

Hermione nodded feeling embarrassed that he had taken the chance of exposing himself to save her. No one had ever done something like that for her. Impulsively, she threw her arms around his neck and gave him a strong hug.

"Thank you for saving me," she said.

"You're welcome," Harry replied.

Hermione released Harry's neck. She glanced briefly at Ronald Weasley. His face almost matched his hair colour. "Thank you also, Ronald." She turned back to Harry.

"Well, I have homework waiting and I need to get today's assignments."

-II-

Ron watched the bushy-haired witch leave the abandoned classroom with a sense of shock. The girl was barmy! One minute she was upset and now she was off to do homework?

Harry started towards the door to follow Hermione. Impulsively, Ron reached out a hand to grab the other boy's arm.

"Wait, Harry." Harry paused and looked at Ron.

Ron felt his face start to burn even worse, but he had to know. "Why did you bring me along? You could have handled this on your own. Or grabbed a Prefect or even just told a professor and let them deal with it. Why me?"

Harry seemed to weigh Ron with his eyes. It felt like hours before Harry spoke. "Honestly I didn't really think about it at the time. I don't like bullies and you were coming close to earning that title. I've heard from your brothers that you have a younger sister. What would you do if some kid said something like that to her?" Ron felt something inside squirm at that comment.

"I think part of me reckoned that you helped get her into trouble so you needed to help get her out." A small smile crossed Harry's lips. "Or it could be you were the first warm body in reach. We are in Gryffindor after all."

Ron grinned weakly at that but he was still in a bit of shock. He trailed silently behind Harry on the rest of the way to the Common Room. He didn't even realize where he was until he found himself standing in the middle of the Common Room watching Harry's back disappear up the stairs to the boys' dorms. He noticed Hermione sitting at a table with her books already out in front of her. The other two First year girls and a couple of Second year girls too were sitting nearby also.

Without any conscious thought, Ron walked over to the table. He couldn't lift his eyes from the floor but he knew she was looking up at him.

"Hermione? I'm sorry for being a git and what I said this morning. I…I haven't been very nice to you. I haven't been having a good term and took it out on you."

Ron tried to get out the final words but they just froze in his throat. He never really had to at home; Mum and Dad just forgave him, Percy ignored him and the twins pranked him. Ginny would hex him with the Bat-Bogie spell Great-Aunt Muriel taught her. Ron steeled himself like he was about to get hit by a Bludger.

"um, I apologize, er, for what I said today."

"Did Harry force you to do this?" Hermione asked suspiciously.

Ron's eyes shot up to look at her in surprise. "No. He just kind of said he was disappointed and how would I like someone talking to my sister like I did to you." Ron felt his face heating up again and dropped his eyes to the floor again.

"Very well, I accept."

Ron looked up now with an excited smile. Hermione was smiling too but her face was blushing. Ron didn't notice everyone in the Common Room was watching and listening in.

"Thank you," Ron whispered. Then he made a retreat for his dorm.

9 November 1991

"So how did you talk me into this again?"

Padma rolled her eyes at Harry's question. She had explained this to him several times. She'd swear he was just teasing her.

"You need to learn about this world you were just dropped into. The Potters are a very old British magical family," she answered. Teasingly, she added, "Not as old as the Patils of course but still a respectable history." Harry just smiled in response.

The Magical Society Club advertised itself as a group interested in the study and preservation of Magical culture, history, and heritage. What it really was is an association of the children of the higher strata of magical society. In theory that social position was based on three criteria: Blood lines, wealth, and magical strength. Unfortunately, for the last 100 years, the magical strength criterion was set aside although they still paid lip service to it. At one time, a magically-gifted Muggle-born witch or wizard was sought after to bring new blood and power into a Family line. That started to change when the Muggle world entered the Industrial Revolution.

Suddenly, Muggle technology started to explode. In 1900, the horse was the primary mode of Muggle land transportation just like the previous four thousand years. Yet within fifty years horse travel had been completely replaced by cars. Muggle aeroplanes filled the sky and Muggles had weapons capable of destroying entire cities in a single strike.

As technology improved at an ever increasing pace, the old guard of the magical world felt threatened. Many of the Wizengamot and other leaders of the Wizarding World were born before the invention of the electric light and the telephone. The gap between the standards of living between wizard and standard humans shrank for the first time in thousands of years. But it wasn't just that the gap shrank. It disappeared almost completely. Transportation, health care, entertainment, production; suddenly there were areas where the standard world equalled or even exceeded the capabilities of the magical world. And the Muggle-born coming in to the magical world brought those ideas with them.

The magical world had a great deal to be proud of as a culture. Where the standard world was still struggling with racial and gender equality, the magical world was long past that. After all, magical power was not impacted by either factor. It was just as likely that the wife had a greater magical talent than her husband as the other way around. Yes, one could argue that the magical world treated the non-human magical species poorly but the standard world didn't have a much better track record with indigenous people. For example, the magical world never was involved in colonization or human slavery.

The magical world reacted to these rapid changes by closing ranks. Powerful and talented Muggle-borns found themselves barred from advancing in their new magical world. As they pushed for change, the Purebloods closed ranks even tighter. It was in this fear and uncertainty that Voldemort found fertile ground for his particular brand of hate. And if Voldemort hadn't risen on the platform of preserving magical culture (the status quo) it would have been just as likely for another Dark Lord to have risen pushing Muggle-born culture or an aristocracy based solely on magical power.

The Magical Society Club at Hogwarts was the local branch of the elite of Pureblood society. Not necessarily Death Eaters, but also the Light-sided families that existed at that societal level. For every Malfoy, Parkinson, Black, and Nott family, there was a Longbottom, Bones, Crouch, and Patil family to counter them. The 'Neutral' families outnumbered either side alone by enough of a margin that the Dark and Light would have to join together to out vote the Neutrals in the Wizengamot. However, what bound them together was they were all long-established Pureblood families with a vested interest in continuing to maintain their world. They simply disagreed with how to do that.

The Potters were never in that elite class. While they had magical power and a rich family history they lacked sufficient wealth and tended to marry Muggle-borns on an alarming basis. James Potter was considered a Pureblood due to the Potter history but his grandfather and great-grandfather both married Muggle-borns. Padma convinced Harry to attend claiming that his fame and apparent power with his defeat of the Dark Lord was enough to get him accepted. There were a few grumbles when he arrived but Harry simply shrugged it off.

The meeting had been going on for almost an hour and Padma was starting to regret attending and dragging Harry into it. This session was supposed to be a 'social' to allow the First through Third years a chance to get to know each other and establish connections with others of their 'class'. However, it turned out to be polite political warfare to establish the social pecking order in Hogwart's 'lower half'.

Her friend Daphne's family, like Harry's, was an old family but never had the money or influence to enter into the elite. Apparently, Daphne wanted to change that. Padma guessed the Hat put her in Slytherin for a reason.

-III-

Daphne glared at Malfoy and in a cold voice said, "The Greengrass family has stood in Britain for over two thousand years. Long before the Malfoy name existed, the Greengrass family was known as the Faiche. We were elite amongst the learned Druids until the armies of Caesar forced us into hiding in Wales and Scotland! And where were the Malfoy's at that time? Pig farmers in France!" Tracey Davis sat beside her cousin Daphne adding her icy glare at the Malfoy scion as well.

The slightly pompous sounding Hufflepuff sitting next to Padma rolled his eyes at Daphne's speech. "Oh great. That's all we needed. A Druish princess," he groaned under his breath. Padma barely heard him so she was surprised when Harry spoke up from her other side.

In an innocently curious voice, Harry commented, "Funny, she doesn't look Druish."

Ernie Macmillan looked to be in pain as he tried to hold in his laughter at Harry's reply. Padma didn't get the joke but realized it was some kind of reference. Unfortunately, it also attracted the attention of the rest of the room.

"Do you mind, Macmillan? We are trying to have a rational conversation here," Draco Malfoy commented with his best attempt at a glare. His two enforcers standing over his shoulder added their glares to his. Padma started to apologize for the interruption but Harry got a comment out first.

"Dear me, what are those things glaring at us over there?"

Ernie answered, still fighting the laughter. "Spaceballs?"

Harry sighed resignedly. "Oh shite, there goes the school."

At Harry's comment, Ernie lost his battle with the laughter and started laughing uproariously to the confusion of the other students sitting around them.

Draco was glaring over at them and was backed by some of the Second and Third years. Even some of the Light-sided students and non-Slytherins were unhappy. Although whether their unhappiness was caused by the levity or the fact it was obviously a Muggle reference was debatable.

Ernie managed to fight his laughter back down. "I apologize for interrupting your discussion," he said in his slightly pompous sounding manner.

Padma noticed that Malfoy was ignoring Harry's presence as much as possible. Jakob Bulstrode was the nominal 'host' of the gathering but the Third year Slytherin took all of his cues from Malfoy. So far, this was the most acknowledgement Harry received the whole meeting.

Michael Corner, a boy from her own House and year, looked over at where Padma sat with Harry and Ernie with a sneer. "I don't know why Potter is even here. We all know the Potters were never … acceptable in Society. They were worker bees, not powers."

"He is the Boy-Who-Lived," Susan Bones offered in a tentative tone. Hannah Abbott nodded her support although Padma wondered if it was in support of Harry or simply her best friend. "He defeated the Dark Lord. Surely that is enough to show he belongs with us."

"Even a peasant gets lucky every so often," a Second year Slytherin witch answered condescendingly.

Harry rose gracefully to his feet. He gave them a slight bow before saying, "I apologize for my interruption of this most prestigious of gatherings. I am afraid my manners are not on the level of a gathering such as this. Ms Patel merely wished for me to see for myself the society that my parents and I sacrificed so much in defending. I am pleased to say in this she succeeded admirably. And now if you would excuse me?"

And with that Harry walked out.

Padma sat stunned in her seat as she watched him walk out. The little speech was totally out of character from her last two months of friendship with the famous boy. Harry was generally quiet and a bit shy although occasionally he showed glimpses of something else behind his walls.

Caught in her own musings, Padma missed the rest of the gatherings initial reactions to Harry's impromptu speech. Then she noticed Susan's embarrassed expression. Padma glanced around now taking notice of a few embarrassed faces and several angry or annoyed ones. Ernie looked rather amused again. Padma replayed Harry's words in her mind.

'Oh Merlin' she gasped in her thoughts. 'He just told off the entire room!'

Padma stood. "Excuse me; I am going to see after my guest."

Fortunately it was just a few steps to the door. To her surprise, Ernie was right behind her.

"That was bloody brilliant," Ernie snickered once they were out of the room. "They can't really get upset with his words but what he implied … that was awesome!"

"It was not awesome!" Padma retorted as tears started down her cheeks. "Harry just offended everyone in that room! Not that they didn't deserve it, b-but I brought Harry to help him, not make things worse."

Ernie looked a bit uncomfortable but simply shrugged. "Most of them already had their minds made up. The Dark families hate him. The Light families put him on a pedestal. And the Neutrals like my family are the same place they always are … on the fence."

Padma acknowledged his comment with a small nod. Her daddy had said something similar. Varish Patel owned on of the largest import/export businesses in the magical world and did significant business with the Muggle world. He often spoke at home of the isolationist stance of the magical world and its dangers.

"Well, I am off to find Justin," Ernie announced. "I promised to give him my assistance in improving his flying. I believe he wishes to try-out for the Hufflepuff Quidditch squad next year. He heard McGonagall almost got Potter onto the Gryffindor squad this year. Cheerio!"

Padma smiled a bit as she watched the boy strut off. Ernie was one of the sweetest and most thoughtful boys she knew but he really came off like an arrogant berk sometimes.

Padma turned now and started walking to the Gryffindor tower. She wanted to apologize to Harry for dragging him to the stupid social. Besides, maybe she could catch Hermione to talk about the Potions assignment. They needed three uses of Trileaf Simitoil and she'd only found two.

14 December 1991

"Harry, where do you disappear to all the time?" Hermione asked."

Harry looked up from his meal to see a number of curious faces looking expectantly at him. He simply shrugged. "Around. I like to explore. I feel cooped up if I stay in too long."

Ron leaned forward and whispered, "Harry, mate, there is something we need to tell you about." Harry peaked over his glasses to make eye contact with Ron. Ron supressed a gulp and said, "No, it's about something different."

Hermione said, "We went looking for you the other week, Ron, Neville, and I. It was after curfew and Fitch and his horrible cat were chasing us. We ended up on the third floor where Dumbledore warned us not to go." She noticed that the Weasley twins were now listening to their conversation.

"It was horrible; we barely got out with our lives!" Ron supplied. "It was some kind of monster with three heads!"

"I didn't even want to be there," Neville mumbled. "I just couldn't remember the password to the dorm again."

Harry smiled. "Oh, you met Fluffy."

"Fluffy!" Ron exclaimed in an outraged voice. "Fluffy! You mean that monster has a name?" From the shocked expressions on the Weasley twins' faces, Hermione surmised they had met the monster dog also.

Harry shrugged. "Well, that is what Hagrid told me. Fluffy is his."

"When did you talk to Hagrid?" Fred (or is it George?) asked.

"Um, since the first week we were here," Harry answered after some thought. "He gave me a note our first morning here inviting me down for tea. Apparently he really liked my mum and dad. He wanted to give me a birthday present. That's when I got Hedwig."

Hermione had wondered where the snowy owl had come from. Before she could comment, the owl in question suddenly flew in and landed on Harry's shoulder.

"Well, aren't you the brilliant one," Harry commented with a grin. "Knew you were the topic of conversation and had to make an appearance." Hedwig made a barking sound that almost sounded like agreement before snatching a piece of bacon from Harry's hand. Hermione wanted to ask how he thought the owl would have known they were discussing it rather then it just being a fortunate coincidence, but she forced herself to focus on the topic at hand. She mentally noted to ask later.

"Harry, what about 'Fluffy'?" Hermione asked with a disbelieving tone when she mentioned the three-headed monster's name. "My research says it is a hell hound."

"We should have known it was Hagrid's," George (or Fred) commented to his brother.

Fred nodded in agreement. "He did have a sphinx our First year."

Harry grinned at the twins but shrugged in response to Hermione. "Hagrid mentioned him to me one night when we were coming back up to the school. I think he takes Fluffy out for walks after curfew or early in the morning. He makes Fluffy sound like a big puppy."

Harry's casual comment about Fluffy made her doubt that Hagrid's mention of the animal was Harry's only encounter with it. She strongly suspected Harry had visited the monster dog in his … other form. But she couldn't voice that here.

Instead she asked, "Did you notice the trap door in Fluffy's room?"

"Never been there," Harry answered innocently. Hermione didn't buy it but again was prevented from following up here in the Great Hall.

"Good morning all," Ernie greeted them as he approached the Gryffindor table. "Harry, I wanted to ask if you would be interested in joining us for a pick-up Quidditch game? Madam Hooch had agreed to supervise a match for the First years and let us use the school brooms. I think this would afford us an excellent opportunity to gather some experience."

Harry grinned at that. "Who else have you grabbed?"

"Justin, of course. Also Sally-Ann, Daphne, Tracey, Padma, Theodore, Susan, and, um, Michael."

Hermione saw a slight tightening around Harry's eyes at the mention of Michael Corner. She had heard about the other boy's comments during the club meeting Harry went to with Padma.

"Sure, sounds like fun," Harry accepted with a shrug. Ron and Dean also asked to join in the game. Harry left with Ernie to gather up the equipment for the pick-up game while the others finished eating.

Hermione was left wondering about the trap door. If there was one thing that drove Hermione crazy it was unanswered questions. The question about what was under that door had been bugging her, but Harry didn't seem concerned at all. The young witch made a small sigh. Maybe she should leave it alone. She still had the question of what happened to Harry when he'd been bitten by what was almost assuredly a werewolf.

Currently, she had two working theories. One was that it was something naturally different in Harry the caused both the rebounding of the Dark Lord's Killing Curse and the strange mutation of the lycanthropy. The second theory was something from surviving the Killing Curse interfered with the lycanthropy. In either case it offered an interesting question on would other Dark curses on Harry also be twisted in some bizarre way? Such a fascinating topic.

Hermione decided to set the question of Fluffy aside to continue researching what happened to Harry. After all, the later was done in the library and she really didn't want to face a giant, three-headed, slobbering, guard dog again.

1 April 1992

Professor Quirenus Quirrell carefully opened the door to the third floor corridor. The harp sat on the ground beside him with its strings moving silently. A simple charm lifted the device slightly off the ground and sent it smoothly gliding across the floor. A second charm released the Silencing Charm on it.

A silent command sent the conjured torch floating into the room. The Defence Against the Dark Arts professor was gratified to see the beast's body settle indicating it was asleep. The stupid dog got a hold of his arm the first time that he managed to access the room. He didn't want to repeat that experience.

"Quickly," the Master demanded. "Move the half-breed's mongrel. Dumbledore could be back soon."

"Yes, master."

A simple Levitating Charm moved the sleeping monster out of the way revealing the trap door. He opened the trap door and let it gently flip back onto the floor. Quirrell sat down on the floor letting his legs hang over the ledge and the inky blackness below. He knew the Devil's Snare would catch him but it was still a bit unnerving.

"This charm better work," the Master growled.

"It was from an Incan tome, master," Quirrell assured him. "Dumbledore's anti-summoning spell on the key should not block it." The Master of course knew this as the spell came from the Dark Lord's own library but Quirrell knew from experience who would be held accountable for any failure tonight.

The harp's music suddenly stopped in a harsh twang as it suddenly smashed into the wall. Quirrell twisted to see the harp drop to the ground.

"Hey, Fluffy, dinner!" a low, growling voice called out. Quirrell felt a sudden fear he hadn't felt since his Master first possessed him.

"Quickly, you fool! Get us out of here!" the Master demanded.

Quirrell tried to comply but with his legs hanging over the trapdoor's ledge he just didn't have time to comply. He felt two of the monster's heads bit into each arm pulling him up. He finally screamed in terror as the third head's jaws closed over his own head.

-IV-

Fluffy made a great couch.

The giant canine had a soft, black fur coat and he curled his body up making a warm, soft niche for a young boy to snuggle into. The hell hound seemed to enjoy being read to even if he couldn't really understand the words. A little light conjured above the book was perfectly adequate to read by in the dark room.

The best part was no one else except for Hagrid would ever come in here. Harry needed some alone time and he didn't want to get caught sneaking into the Forbidden Forest to run around.

The sudden sound of music in the room caused the reading to come to a surprised stop. Harry peaked over the now sleeping dog towards the door. A figure stood there with a torch hovering in the air over his shoulder. A magical harp sat on the ground nearby playing a soft lullaby.

"Quickly," a voice hissed. "Move the half-breed's mongrel. Dumbledore could be back soon."

"Yes, master."

Harry recognized the second voice even with its shocking lack of a stutter. What was the defence professor doing here? And where did that other voice come from? He obviously wasn't supposed to be here if they were worried about Dumbledore finding them.

Fluffy suddenly shuddered as he was lifted off the ground and the trap door he was laying on top of was revealed.

Once the dog was back on the floor, Harry carefully stood up and moved further into the shadows along the wall.

"This charm better work," the unknown voice said in a threatening tone.

"It was from an Incan tome, master. Dumbledore's anti-summoning spell on the key should not block it."

Harry knew they were here to steal Nicolas Flamel's Philosopher's Stone. Hagrid had slipped so many times over the year Harry reckoned he knew the whole story by now. Harry really liked Hagrid but the giant groundskeeper had a harder time keeping his mouth in check than Ron Weasley.

Harry took the simple expedient to stop the harp.

He kicked it. Hard.

Harry allowed the change to come and growled out, "Hey, Fluffy, dinner!"

The hell hound quickly woke and spotted the intruder. Harry watched as the lovable dog attacked, quickly tearing the hapless professor to pieces. He had hunted his share of animals but even his stomach started to turn.

"Who did this?" the hissing voice demanded. Harry's transformed eyes spotted the dark cloud rising from Professor Quirrell's remains. "I shall have my revenge! I will find you and destroy you and everyone you ever loved!" Then it screamed and flew out of the room right out the door.

-VI-

Quirrell's remains were not found until early the next morning when Hagrid arrived to feed Fluffy. Hagrid quickly took the remains away from the now disappointed hell hound and called a house-elf to get Professor Dumbledore.

In short order the Headmaster along with his senior staff was looking over the scene in some discomfort.

"What was Quirenus thinking coming in here so late at night?" Minerva asked in a shocked voice.

"You are assuming that he was the one making the decisions," Severus sneered. "I warned you, Headmaster, that there were signs."

Dumbledore was crouched down next to the remains of Quirrell's head. "Yes, yes, Severus, you were quite right." The older wizard moved aside the defence professor's turban. "It appears as through Voldemort managed to possess poor Quirenus."

Minerva went white at the suggestion. "Him? Albus, are you sure?"

Severus looked just as concerned. "Albus, do you think he will try again?"

Dumbledore stood carefully as his knees protested. "Yes, I am quite sure. And, no, I don't think he will try again soon. Voldemort had to gather his power over ten years to make this attempt. I would expect at least another four to five years before he could make an attempt to possess someone even voluntarily again. Which gives us time to allow Mr Potter to remain a child a bit longer but still properly train him."

"Potter?" Snape retorted in disgust. "He shows no real potential. He completely average whatever his adoring public may wish to believe!"

Albus sighed as Minerva launched into defence of her young lion. In truth, Severus had a point on Mr Potter's performance this year. But there was still time and hope. Harry's grandfather was also a rather late bloomer and Henry Potter still grew to be a rather skilled and powerful wizard. Perhaps Harry took after his namesake in this as well.

With a wave of his wand he reassembled the pieces of Quirenus into a whole. It would not withstand a magical investigation but his word should be sufficient to ensure there was no investigation. After all, Hagrid would be most upset if his pet were to be destroyed over performing such a service. Now he would have to retrieve Nicholas's Stone. It would be safe enough from a weakened Tom Riddle now.

-VII-

The school was shocked the next morning when Professor Dumbledore announced the death of Professor Quirrell.

"Professor Quirrell was involved in several magical experiments in the pursuit of knowledge. Thus we are reminded that pushing back the boundaries of ignorance is not without its hazards. Your other professors will take turns covering the class for the remainder of the year. Please see your Head of House if you have any questions."

The Headmaster sat back down and watched as his students started to speculate and gossip. Ah the innocent. So unaware of the dangers that lurked just outside of their sight. It was the responsibility of those called as Light's Champions to protect the rest of the wizarding world so they could live in such blissful ignorance.

His eyes automatically sought out the one he saw as his chosen replacement. Harry Potter had been something of a disappointment. Minerva and Filius had thrown off his initial plan but the boy took to Hagrid well enough anyway. His devoted groundskeeper had practically spoon-fed Harry everything he needed to find Nicholas's Stone but the boy simply didn't seem to care. Where was his Gryffindors sense of adventure? James Potter would have never let something like this go. Maybe the Dursleys had gone too far?

Dumbledore made an unconscious nod. Yes, he would have to check in this summer to ensure they were properly taking care of the boy. He couldn't fathom how any sister of Lily Potter could be anything else but loving but it wouldn't hurt to check.

After all, the Wizarding World needed its new Champion to rise to the challenge, not watch from a place amongst the lesser wizards.

AN: A bit of deviation there from First year. I've had several reviews complaining that the story was sticking too close to canon. For the most part I agree. Unfortunately, this was only planned as a one-shot so I have to stick close enough to canon that the ending of PoA still makes sense to occur. If I continue past Third year, canon will become significantly less a factor.


	5. Dear Diary

Dear Diary

1 September 1992

Severus Snape followed the Headmaster and the Potter brat into the former's office. Minerva trailed along in his wake. He had better things to do then to deal with Potter's Spawn tonight. Slytherin House had a rather large intake of students that night and it was his responsibility to see them introduced to their new House and settled. Instead, he had to be here dealing with … this.

Albus settled into his normal throne-like chair. Then he waited for his 'guests' to settle down after his customary offer of his favourite candies. Potter naturally sat in the seat centred right in front of the Headmaster's desk like the little prince he obviously thought he was, Salazar help him.

"Ah, Mr Potter, how was your summer?" the Headmaster asked in his 'kind grandfather' mode.

"Very nice, professor. And yours?"

"Rather busy but it was a nice respite from the rigours of running Hogwarts."

"That's good."

"I actually stopped by your aunt's this summer to ensure you were adjusting to being back in the Muggle world. I was rather surprised to not find you there. I had wanted to congratulate you on finishing third in your class behind Ms Granger and Ms Patil. Quite an accomplishment."

"Thank you for that, professor." The Potter brat made a small shrug and answered the implied question. "Several of my friends offered to let me stay with them over the summer. I wrote Aunt Petunia before the end of the term and asked her permission. She was so excited that I wasn't returning she actually sent me a whole pound for my birthday." Severus could see Albus wasn't happy about that answer by the tension about the elder wizard's eyes.

"Now, Harry, I am sure your family missed you at home over the summer."

The little brat had the temerity to disagree with the Headmaster. "I doubt it, professor. They don't consider me family and that house was definitely never a 'home' to me." Potter snickered derisively. "If that troll last year had killed me Uncle Vernon would have probably sent whoever was responsible a thank-you note."

Minerva spoke up for the first time. "Surely you are exaggerating, Mr Potter. Life there couldn't have been that bad." Severus could hear the pleading in her tone.

'Trying to convince him or yourself, Minerva?' he thought with a mental sneer.

"Enough of this," Snape interrupted. Merlin knew if he didn't they would soon be holding the brat's hand and having house-elves feeding him grapes. "I have more important matters to be about than to listen to Potter whine about his eggs being slightly undercooked." Albus gave him a disapproving glance that Severus easily ignored.

"Yes well, Harry, we are here to talk about the incident on the Express today."

"He should be expelled for striking a fellow student," Severus sneered.

"Severus," Minerva snapped. "It was not that significant an incident to warrant such a punishment."

Potter ignored the two professors and responded to Dumbledore. "Malfoy came into our compartment, shot off his mouth looking to provoke a fight. I gave him what he was looking for."

Dumbledore consulted a sheet in front of him. "According to Madam Pomfrey, Mr Malfoy has a sprained jaw and two teeth had to be magically regrown. He will be able to attend classes tomorrow but he is in for a most uncomfortable night." He looked up at Potter with disappointment on his face. "It is never an acceptable behaviour to physically strike one of your fellow students."

"Malfoy came into our compartment and called Hermione a 'mudblood', Ron a 'blood-traitor' and the Patil sisters 'a pair of wogs only fit to clean his manor and be whores'. If anything I let him off light with only a single backhand to that big mouth of his."

The three professors looked at the composed but angry twelve year-old in shock. Severus was not shocked at what his godson had said. The boy was almost quoting his father verbatim. What shocked the Potions Professor was the calm, deliberate manner the Potter brat had spoken. He sounded much more like an adult than a student.

Dumbledore was the first one to set aside his shock. "We shall deal with what Mr Malfoy said. However, I still cannot allow this to stand. You shall have three nights detention with Hagrid assisting in his duties as he assigns. I do not expect to hear of a repeat of this incident. Thank you, Mr Potter. You may return to the Gryffindor tower now."

Potter stood up at the dismissal. He turned towards the door before pausing and turning to look Severus straight in the eye. Brilliant green eyes met Severus's black eyes stare.

"Professor, would you please pass a message on for me? Let Malfoy know that the next time he crosses the line into hurting my friends there will not be a third time. If he wants to fight me he knows where to find me, but leave my friends out of it. And if he ever calls my mother _that name_ again, I will bury him where he stands." Then Potter was gone before any of the professors could react.

"Dear Merlin, what happened on that train?" Minerva whispered. She turned on Dumbledore and started in on him. Severus ignored them. For the second time in five minutes he was completely shocked. For the first time looking at the Potter spawn he hadn't seen James Potter. He hadn't even seen Lily either.

He'd seen Michael Evans.

When Severus Snape returned to Spinners End after his Second year, Tobias Snape was already roaring drunk. When he noticed the return of his magical son he'd exploded into a rage. Tobias Snape was a petty man with no great gift; an office worker doing accounting work at a nearby foundry. Severus always suspected the elder Snape was intimidated by his son's obvious greater intelligence. Whether it was jealousy over magical or intellectual gifts or the fact he was a small-minded man that took out his anger and frustrations on a defenceless child didn't really matter. What mattered was the severe beating that followed.

Lily eventually found him in the weed-infested 'park' near their houses. She dragged her battered and bleeding best friend back to her house. Her mum, Patricia Evans, patched up her daughter's friend even as her eldest daughter looked on disapprovingly.

Then Michael Evans returned home. He was a foreman in the same plant where Tobias Snape was employed. That is where the similarity ended. The Evans man shared his youngest daughter's eyes but he was incredibly strong from lifting heavy loads all day in the heat of the foundry. While he wasn't built like a Muggle body builder, he was arguably the strongest man in the plant. He was also fairly intelligent and a leader amongst the workers. He also was known for a wicked temper and being the last man standing in pub brawls. He never started the fights but by God he finished them.

When Mr Evans heard what happened, he simply nodded and offered to walk Severus home. (The laws of the time hadn't given him much choice.) During the short walk to Spinner's End, Severus took comfort in the man's quiet, solid presence.

When he arrived home, Severus opened the door and Mr Evans followed him in. Tobias Snape saw his son and started yelling and moved forward to strike him again. He never noticed Mr Evans until the man's hand was clamped about his neck and hoisting him off the floor. Mr Evans effortlessly held the man above the floor and delivered a promise that if Tobias Snape ever touched his son again in anger it would not happen a third time.

The scared little man never touched his son again.

The expression, tone, and even the words were almost exactly what Severus Snape had just experienced again … except this time they were directed towards him. The only Muggle ever to defend Severus Snape and now to see him again in his grandson...

"Severus?" Dumbledore called out. "Severus, are you okay?"

"Potter is dangerous. He should be expelled."

"Come now Severus. I am sure if we simply keep them separated for now their tempers will cool."

Snape forced a sneer onto his face. "Mark my words, professor. Potter is the most dangerous student you've allowed in this school since the Dark Lord himself. Maybe even worse. The Dark Lord fought for power. Potter will do it because he thinks he is _right_."

Severus left without another word. He needed to reign in his Slytherins. They would have to take their revenge subtly, not through open confrontations with Potter. Yes, Potter was only a Second year now but time would take care of that. The brat was third in his class academically and was showing signs of being potentially the most magically gifted student in several years no matter what he told the brat in class. The Prophecy said Potter would have the power to vanquish the Dark Lord. What could that be but magical power?

In any case, Potter was a danger to his students. The brat might be the key to eventually stopping the most evil wizard to ever exist but Potter was a danger to his students NOW. Somehow he would have to make the Headmaster see that.

-I-

2 September 1992

The small creature arrived at his destination. All summer he had tried his best to find the Great One, but the creature's best wasn't good enough. He deserved to be punished.

He stared down on the sleeping form of the Great One. So much goodness and power mixed into one being! Here was the One-That-Gave-Hope-To-All-Beings! The Great Harry Potter!

Oh how he hoped the Great One would accept his warning. The Dark Ones were moving again and they sought to extinguish the Great One! That couldn't be allowed to happen! Bad Family were part of this. (Dobby would have to iron his fingers later for that thought!) Bad Master wanted Great Harry Potter dead. Bad Master ordered Dobby not to tell anyone Bad Family business. So Dobby couldn't. But it wasn't Bad Family business if Great Harry Potter wasn't where Bad Family sets their trap! No, Dobby couldn't fail!

The Great Harry Potter's eyes suddenly opened and glowed with Power in the darkness. Dobby was so surprised he never thought to pop away. And then Great Harry Potter had him by the throat. But Dobby was used to that. Old Not-So-Bad Master did that too.

"Who are you?" Great Harry Potter demanded in a low whisper.

"_I is Dobby, Harry Potter. Dobby the House-Elf_." Great Harry Potter loosened his grip.

"Why are you here?"

"Dobby is here to warn Harry Potter! Harry Potter must leave Hogwarts! There is great danger! Harry Potter must leave!"

"Is it Voldemort?"

Dobby clapped his hands over his ears as the name invoked visions of the horrible times. "_Ah, speak not the name, sir! Speak not the name_!"

Some muttering came from another bed. Great Harry Potter quickly rose from his bed and walked into the nearby loo. He closed the door behind him and set Dobby down on the counter.

"Sorry about that," Great Harry Potter murmured. "I know people don't like saying that name." Dobby felt the tears start to form. Great Harry Potter was apologizing to him!

Great Harry Potter sighed. "Dobby why are you crying?"

"Great Harry Potter apologized to Dobby! Wizards never apologize to house-elves!"

The Great Wizard grimaced uncomfortably. "Yah well, I'll just say I've been there too." He coughed. "Now what is this warning?"

"Dobby try to find you all summer but Harry Potter not with his family! _Terrible things are planned for this year! Harry Potter is too important. He must stay safe_!"

"What terrible things? Who is plotting them? Is it Vol- He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named?"

"_Not – not He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, sir –_" Dobby answered with a particular nod. He hoped Great Harry Potter understood what he was trying to say.

"I can't leave Hogwarts, Dobby," the Great One answered. "I don't really have anywhere else to go until I am old enough to be on my own. My relatives don't want me."

"Harry Potter's family doesn't want him?" Dobby asked in disbelief.

"They hate magic," the Great One explained. "But I am told they are the only family I have left so I have to stay with them." Dobby felt his eyes start to tear again but this time in grief and anger. Great Harry Potter had no one! Dobby would find Harry Potter a family of his own! Then Great Harry Potter could leave Hogwarts and be safe!

"Don't worry, Harry Potter. Dobby will find you a family!" Dobby nodded his emphasis. "Stay safe, Harry Potter, until Dobby comes back!" With a pop he was gone. An elf on a mission.

-II-

15 October 1992

The Ravenclaws followed the Gryffindor students into the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom. Except for the very first class with the disaster with the pixies, Professor Lockhart simply lectured the class on events from his various books. Last week it was yetis and the week before was vampires.

Padma watched Harry as the students sat down. The students had been whispering about Harry since the writing on the wall and Mrs Norris was petrified. For some reason they ignored the fact Harry was with Hermione, Ron, and herself when the cat was discovered. Instead they just focused on Harry. It didn't make any sense to the logical Patil.

Harry just seemed to shrug it off- like it was all a big joke. However, Padma had learnt to read her closest male friend better than that. He was angry about the whispers but was keeping it inside. Thank Merlin that idiot Malfoy hadn't tried anything recently.

"Ah, welcome class to another wonderful session of Defence Against the Dark Arts!" Lockhart announced breezily as he waltzed into the room. "Are you all ready for another exciting glimpse into the world behind the veil that are the Dark Arts?"

Padma watched the man move into the room and start his lecture on werewolves. Padma was beginning to come about to Harry's position that the professor was a fraud of the first order. Listening to the man's descriptions matched little with the outside research Padma had done on the behaviour of feral werewolves. The werewolf the professor described seemed completely in control like it was under the influence of Wolfsbane Potion.

"Now, I shall act out my famous battle with the Wagga Wagga Werewolf! Ah, Mr Potter, if you would please assist me again?"

Harry stood up but it was obvious that it was the last thing he wanted to do. Padma could hear Corner snickering behind her as Harry walked up.

"_Nice loud howl, Harry- exactly – and then, if you'll believe it, I pounced – like this – slammed him to the floor – thus – with one hand, I managed to hold him down – with my other, I put wand to his throat – I then screwed up my remaining strength and performed the immensely complex Homorphus Charm – he let out a piteous moan – go on, Harry – higher than that – good – the fur vanished the fangs shrunk – the he turned back into a man. Simple, yet effective – and another village will remember me forever as the hero who delivered them from the monthly terror of werewolf attacks." (HP CoS p 162 US hardcover)_

Harry stood up from the floor and said, "Excuse me professor, but I don't think the class and I can really understand what a great feat you managed, sir." Padma was instantly wary - Harry was up to something. He was never that polite unless he was up to something. Unfortunately, Lockhart didn't know him that well.

"Whatever, do you mean, Harry?"

"Well, sir. I am just a small boy, not a huge werewolf. It just doesn't do justice to have me fill in for the werewolf as I am."

"I know – I know, young Harry. However we must make do with what we have," the author-professor responded while flashing his smile at the class.

"I had an idea, professor. If Hermione cast a glamour on me to make me look like a werewolf, then the class would get the full impact of what you dealt with."

The professor seemed to consider it. Padma didn't think her friend was capable of casting such a spell. The professor seemed doubtful also but Harry assured him that she was more than capable.

"Very well. Ms Granger, your assistance please?"

Hermione walked up while glaring at the small smile on Harry's face. Now Padma was sure Harry was up to something and most of the rest of the class was coming to the same conclusion. When Hermione reached Harry he whispered something quietly into her ear before stepping away to remove his robes. Padma winced a bit to see the scruffy, oversized Muggle clothes Harry insisted on wearing under his school robes.

"No need to get disrobed for this, Harry," Lockhart assured him with a look of distaste on his face as he took in Harry's clothes.

"Just trying to get into the role, professor. It is method acting."

"Of course, I recognized that my dear boy," Lockhart assured him. Padma didn't know what he meant by 'method acting' and doubted Lockhart knew either. "Do what you must."

Harry returned to his place in front of the classroom. "Okay, professor. I am all set."

"Once Ms Granger completes her glamour, advance on me just as before," Lockhart instructed.

Hermione made the complex wand patterns required for a glamour spell. Padma wanted to watch her cast but her attention quickly focused on Harry.

Harry threw his head back and let out a howl that sent chills down Padma's spine. At the same time, thick black fur was sprouting out all over his body as he grew. His head morphed into a giant representation of a wolf while his hands became massive claws with wicked looking nails the looked incredibly sharp. Padma was terrified and she was sitting twenty feet away.

Harry turned towards the Defence professor and let out a growl that seemed to reverberate through the bones of everyone in the room. The famed professor took one look at that horrible visage and let out a girlish squeal before dropping to the ground in a dead faint.

Harry the Werewolf sat back on his haunches and let out an odd sound. It took Padma a moment but she realized that Harry was laughing. Not just laughing but full out, rib-holding laughter. Now when the werewolf glamour looked out at the classroom, the creature's face seemed amused with his tongue hanging out to one side.

It gave Padma the impression of a giant, very dangerous, puppy.

Hermione must have released her spell because Harry suddenly shrank back into his normal form.

"Wow, mate. You actually made the git faint," Ron congratulated his friend.

Harry replaced his glasses and said, "He'll have to change his robes before lunch too." Just then the bell rang announcing the end of class.

"Guess there's no homework!" Ron cheered.

Padma and Su Li joined their Gryffindor friends as they walked out of the Defence classroom. Something just happened in the class and she didn't understand it. The three Gryffindors shared a secret. How did Hermione manage to cast that glamour? And that looked nothing like any werewolf she had ever seen pictures of. It reminded her more of stories she'd heard from her dada, her grandfather, on their visits to India when she was a child.

She would talk to Harry later to find out what just happened and how he did it. She didn't need to make a scene now.

As the other students left, Lavender and Parvati stayed behind franticly trying to wake their dashing professor while trying to avoid the growing pool coming from under the wizard.

-III-

The Gryffindors were a bit surprised when Ernie McMillan dropped into the seat across from Harry. After the events of the Duelling Club the night before and the whispers this morning of Harry's Parselmouth abilities, most students were going out of their way to avoid the Second year wizard. Behind Ernie stood Padma, Susan, Hannah, and Justin. The four grouped in behind Ernie.

"So, Potter, am I right thinking you are not the Heir of Slytherin?" he bluntly asked.

"Mmm, no." Ernie looked shocked. The entire Hall fell silent as they tried to listen into the conversation. Had Potter just admitted it?

"Then you are the Heir of Slytherin?" Ernie asked trying to clarify.

"No, sorry. I said 'no' meaning 'yes'."

"'No,' meaning 'yes'"? Look, I want a straight answer. Are you or are you not the Heir of Slytherin, yes or no?"

"Um, no."

"'No', you are, or 'no' you aren't?"

"Yes"

"Enough!" Hermione exploded. "We have a lot of students scared right now and we don't have time for your stupidity!"

Ernie gave her a mock frustrated look. "Well, there is still some confusion as to whether or not he's the Heir of Slytherin. "

Harry rolled his eyes in frustration. "That's not true."

Ernie leaned forward and jabbed his finger into the table. "That there isn't any confusion, or that you're not the Heir of Slytherin?"

"Either. Or both."

"Just give me a clear answer!"

"Certainly! er- What was the question?"

"Are you the Heir of Slytherin?"

"No!"

"Ernie smiled. "Okay, I just wanted to clear that up."

The students (and some teachers) were trying to digest this conversation when Ernie and Harry started to laugh.

"Honestly!" Hermione huffed. "You two with your stupid movie quotes! You have half the Great Hall completely confused as to what just happened. How is that supposed to make any of this better?"

"I made Harry laugh," Ernie answered with a cheeky smile. "We know Harry too well to believe any of that rubbish. The Heir of Slytherin wouldn't be watching Muggle cinema, be best friends with a Muggleborn, or a Half-blood himself."

Hermione huffed again and went back to eating her meal. While she disapproved of Ernie's method, she did appreciate the loyalty he had shown Harry. It seemed like the entire school, including some of the professors, were willing to believe Harry was the Heir of Slytherin on the flimsiest of evidence. It seemed like only Harry's closest friends hadn't fallen into line with that view. She had not read much on the subject of mass psychology but it did seem a bit startling to the thirteen year-old with how fast the students moved from venerating the Boy-Who-Lived to vilifying Harry Potter.

-IV-

Scottish air in January was cold and crisp. The light wind blew around the dusting of snow spotting the ground. With the new moon, the grounds around Hogwarts were dark with only the distant stars and a few remaining lights from Hogwarts providing light. It was well after midnight and the grounds were silent.

Harry enjoyed this time. He missed his time alone in the woods back in Surrey. He loved having friends but the castle walls often felt like they were closing in on Harry. The Beast wasn't able to come out too often due to the risk of exposing his secret. So he cherished these times when he could enjoy his furry form. The silence of the night was not as silent to his ears as the nocturnal inhabitants of the Forbidden Forest went about the night's routine.

The centaurs stayed close to their camp with guards in place while the giant spiders, wolves and other predators were stalking the forest. A small tribe of forest trolls lived near the centre of the forest not far from a pair of Welsh Green dragons that had somehow escaped Ministry (and Hagrid's) notice. Fluffy now made his home deep in the forest and was thrilled to see his playmate from last year again. Harry found dozens of species living inside the forest, some he recognized from Muggle myths and others he had no clue.

School had been tense lately with someone claiming to have opened the Chamber of Secrets and attacking students and the odd demon-cat. No one had been killed so far, but several students were petrified in the Hospital Wing including Justin F-F, Colin Creevey, and Lavender Brown. Harry had tried to find the monster but hadn't been successful. He'd heard the whispering words but had no sight of the creature. The monster's scent was throughout the castle. It smelled somewhat reptilian to Harry but not like any snake he'd smelt before. It was mostly snake but also something else. The only way he could describe it was it didn't smell natural. Hermione was trying to identify the creature but nothing fit the creatures that petrified their prey.

Harry thought of the old movie "Clash of the Titians". Medusa was half-snake/half-human in that movie and her gaze could turn people to stone. But people turned to stone were dead. Petrification was more like an over-powered Stunning Spell or some kind of stasis. None of the snake or snake-like creatures Hermione had found in the library could do that without leaving wounds like bite marks behind.

The Beast loped easily towards the forest edge. The cold air felt comfortable through his fur. He had to force himself not to howl his excitement of the chance to be free for a bit.

His path took him not far from Hagrid's hut. He wasn't too concerned. This late the gentle half-giant would be fast asleep and Fang knew Harry in either form and wouldn't bark.

"Hello Harry Potter," a voice greeted him.

The Beast skidded to a halt. From near the chicken coops appeared a young girl he barely recognized. He'd seen her with Ron's little sister and knew she wasn't a Gryffindor but that was about it. How had she known who the Beast was?

"Don't worry. I won't tell anyone I saw you. It is a good night to be out. Have you seen and snallicks in the forest? Or a snorcrak?"

Harry dropped back into his human form. "How did you know it was me?" he asked.

"Did you change?" she responded in a slightly distracted voice. "I am afraid I haven't quite been myself. I don't even remember deciding to go for a walk tonight but I don't mind since it meant I got to meet you."

Harry wasn't sure how to respond to that. "Er- I am Harry. What is your name?"

"My name? I am Luna. But they are all starting to call my Looney. Looney Luna Lovegood, it has a nice flow and it all alliterates. Ravenclaws are clever that way. I am sure if I was in Gryffindor it would be some silly pun or reference to an animal. What animal would I be? I bet they call you Furry. Or maybe Fuzzy." Harry didn't have an answer for that but he did feel his head starting to hurt already.

"How do two pieces of darkness make so much light?" Luna asked suddenly.

"What light?" Harry asked. "It is nearly pitch dark out here."

Luna giggled. "You're right, Harry Potter. But don't worry, I am sure you will be able to see sooner or later. Well, I have to go now. I need to get up early so I can find where my shoes have walked off to. Good night, Furry Potter!"

Harry watched the odd Ravenclaw Firstie skip through the darkness back towards the castle. What had that been about? He still didn't know how she knew about his Beast form. Sure, Ron and Hermione knew. And he'd told Ernie and Padma over the holidays when he'd stayed with Ernie's family. But he was sure none of them would have told anything especially to a First year none of them really knew.

Harry changed back into the Beast and resumed his run towards the Forest. He hoped the night air would help clear his head. It was probably too late to see Madam Pomfrey for a potion to fight the migraine he felt coming on.

-V-

12 March 1993

"The Heir took her! She is missing! We have to get her back! I can't lose her!"

Harry grabbed the smaller girl as she ran past.

"He took who? Calm down and tell me," Harry said.

The little red-head looked up into the eyes of her hero. "He took Luna! He took Luna into the Chamber of Secrets! There was a new message on the wall. The professors took a roll of all the students and she was the only one missing! She's my best friend! Please Harry, you have to save her!"

"He took Luna Lovegood?" Harry asked. "Little blonde Ravenclaw?"

"Yes, yes! Please, you have to help me!" Ginny pleaded.

Percy Weasley entered the common room just then and announced, "The professors want all students to assemble in the Great Hall in five minutes, no exceptions! Everyone out!"

Ginny grabbed hold of Harry. "Please, Harry, you have to help her. You're the Boy-Who-Lived! I know she's been acting odder than normal this year but she is still my friend."

"You mean she is not normally that … crazy-sounding?"

Ginny shook her head. "No, that is her normal. But sometimes she'd get all cold sounding and tell me to leave her alone. Then she would act later like it never happened."

"Did you tell anyone?" Harry asked.

"I said something to Professor Flitwick and he said he'd talk to her last month but I never heard anything more. She wasn't like this before we came to Hogwarts. She doesn't tell me anything - just writes it into the diary I gave her."

"Come on, you two. You're the last ones here," Percy demanded. "I will give you both detention!"

Harry and Ginny made their way out of the common room although not without Ginny making some parting shots at her officious older brother. They were almost to the Great Hall when they ran into Ron and Ernie followed by Professor Sprout.

"Harry!" Ron yelled. "Hermione and Padma have been petrified!"

Harry felt his stomach drop. "When?"

"Just now, this morning," Ernie answered solemnly. The normally excitable Hufflepuff looked really shaken. "They left me in the library to go to the loo. I found them outside of Myrtle's bathroom."

"You can talk inside the Great Hall," Percy demanded. "Now move!"

Ron snapped and started yelling at his brother. Ginny joined in which pulled in Professor Sprout. The professor started herding the squabbling siblings into the Great Hall. When she tried to pull Ernie along he came out of his shock enough to add to the mayhem. This eventually drew Professor McGonagall out of the Great Hall.

"What is the meaning of this?" she demanded.

"They refuse to obey Professor Dumbledore's commands, professor!" Percy reported.

"It's not that bad," Professor Sprout reassured her colleague in a calm manner. "The poor dears are simply in shock from the attack on their friends."

"I see," the Transfiguration professor answered. "And where is Mr Potter?"

The professor and prefect looked around but the most famous (or notorious) student in Hogwarts was missing.

-VI-

Harry moved under his Invisibility Cloak towards the bathroom where his friends were petrified. He was angry about what had happened to his friends but he also wanted to find the odd little blonde. She gave him a migraine and insisted in calling him Furry Potter to the amusement of much of the school. They thought it was a play on a synonym for a certain pronunciation of his name. Even the Slytherins had started to use it to mock him. However for all that she still managed to get him laughing on a few occasions and God knew he'd needed chances to laugh this year.

Entering the lavatory, Harry paused to sniff. The scents threatened to overwhelm him. He sorted through them and caught Hermione and Padma's scents along with Luna and the monster also. Oddly, Luna's scent only seemed to lead into the loo. Could she still be in here?

"Oh, what are you doing in here?" a girl's voice rang out.

Harry turned to find the ghost of a witch in an old style of Hogwarts robes. He guessed she'd been in Fourth or Fifth year when she died.

"Hello, I am Harry. I am looking for a friend of mine that disappeared from here. Can you help me?"

The ghost witch's expression changed while Harry spoke. Now she was smiling shyly at him. "No one much comes in here anymore. Two girls came in earlier but they just used the loo and left without saying a word to poor Myrtle. Then another girl came in but she just used the sink. She made some noise and then - whoosh! – poor Myrtle was pushed out of her place! Right down the pipes and into the Black Lake! The horrible squid tried to play with me."

"The last girl that came in – was it right after the other girls left?" Harry asked.

"Um, maybe. I'm not too good about keeping track of time. Even if I wasn't dead." The ghosts face clouded up and she started to wail. "Oh, I am dead!" she screamed out before flying into a nearby toilet with a 'plunk!'.

Harry ignored the stray mental question of how an intangible ghost managed to make a small splash entering a toilet bowl and turned to the sink. Luna's scent was stronger here. His eyes darted around looking for a clue, a sign, something!

After five minutes, Harry was ready to give it up as a bad job. He smacked his hand down in frustration. When he lifted his hand, he realized he'd just gotten … something on it. It looked kind of like make-up of some type. With a huff of frustration, Harry walked over to wash it off.

As he washed his hands he ideally noted the snake motif embedded onto the splash plate behind the sink. He glanced down the counter and realized it was the only one. Odd. He looked back at the snake. It seemed to slither a bit.

Was it a marker for the entrance?

Harry looked around for some sign of a trigger mechanism. He expected a rune of some type but reckoned a mechanical trigger was possible also. After several fruitless minutes of searching, he returned his attention to the snake engraving.

"How do I get you to open?" he asked in frustration. The snake gave a particular twitch in response and a second later, Harry heard the sound of stone grinding behind him. Turing he found a section of the floor had given way to reveal a wide tunnel dropping into blackness below.

Open? The Chamber of Secrets and the password to reveal its entrance is open? So much for Salazar being the cunning Founder. Harry considered for a moment. Why hadn't it been found before? Accidently if nothing else. After almost ten centuries at some point at least once someone had to say 'open' while looking at the sink's engraving.

Harry set that aside as he knelt down at the side of the tunnel. The scent of the monster was almost overpowering. It had definitely been through here recently. He touched the side of the tunnel expecting stone. It was metal, lead he thought. This wasn't a tunnel, it was a pipe. A beam of light from his wand showed a bend in the pipe just a few metres down.

"This is a really stupid idea," Harry muttered to himself. He sat on the edge of the pipe and slowly lowered himself down. Maybe the pipe levelled out after the bend. It was just a short drop to the bend. He should be fine. At least that is what he was telling himself.

Harry let go of the edge expecting a short drop to the bend. That is what happened. But what he didn't count on was the accumulated slime of possibly centuries of growth. As his feet hit the pipe bend, they slipped out from under him. The scream he let out as he continued to slide down the pipe was cut off as the bathroom floor returned to cover the pipe opening.

Notes:

- Harry and Ernie's dialogue comes from the movie Clue. The pair spent a large portion of Harry's summer visit watching movies and exchanging movie quotes.

- Ernie often gets the short-end of fanfiction because of his encounter with Harry in CoS where he said he was a Pureblood going nine generations back. However, he also refused to believe Harry put his name into the goblet in OotP. His comment was he learnt his lesson with the whole Heir of Slytherin incident. He was also a student leader during the final battle in DH (while Zach Smith slithered out the back).

- Some of Dobby's lines came directly from CoS or were based on dialogue from the book. It shows up here in italics


	6. Snakes Why did it have to be snakes?

Snakes Why did it have to be snakes?

_AN: Still don't own Harry Potter and no, this is not a cross-over. (Although I did have a funny idea of a Weres Harry/ Avengers cross. LOL) Special thanks to David for his editorial comments on my Yahoo site._

Harry shot out of the pipe to land in a heap on the stone floor. He lay there for a second and tried to verify that he was a) still alive, b) none of his bones were broken, and c) no monster was waiting to attack him at any moment. The pain coming from his back told Harry he wasn't dead and some subtle movements seemed to confirm nothing major was broken. Carefully, he glanced around. The monster's scent was stronger but was a couple hours old.

Harry stood up and looked around. The pipe opened up into a natural looking cave with a sandy floor. The sand was actually warm to the touch. Magical torches burned in sconces a regular intervals lighting the way further down the cave. Some kind of material that looked like canvas was lumped in several places in the cave. Further down Harry could just make out a pair of doors.

He glanced back towards the pipe he had just slid down. If he had known that he wasn't going to be killed on the way down the ride would have been fun. The pipe had branched off several times on the way down. Harry assumed the pipe had other openings in the school or its grounds. He hoped there was another way out because he sure couldn't climb out.

The 'canvas' turned out to be some kind of snake-skin. His medusa comparison was coming back to haunt him.

The doors were adorned with snakes and the Slytherin crest. The snakes were whispering to each other.

'Guess I'm in the right place,' Harry thought. "Open" he commanded. The two snakes glanced at him before the doors silently swung open. The air that hit him was warm and humid. That matched with what he'd read about snakes. They might hibernate in cool, dark caves in winter, but needed external heat if they were going to be very active.

More of the skins littered the floor as Harry moved down the hall silently. He was careful to look for traps or signs of an ambush. He held his wand at the ready just in case.

The hallway opened up into a vast cavern. Against one side of the cavern was a large pool of water with a huge statue of a really ugly man looming over it. Then he noticed the small lump of black cloth near the edge of the pool. Luna.

Harry moved quickly over to her and rolled the girl over carefully. The blonde Ravenclaw was breathing shallowly but her heartbeat was steady.

"She won't wake up you know," a voice announced. "Thank Salazar. Always writing about mythical creatures no one's ever heard of. Stupid little twit."

Harry stood up quickly to face the newcomer. He hadn't heard anything approaching and even now he couldn't pick up a scent.

The newcomer was an older boy roughly Sixth year in Slytherin robes. He was meticulously groomed and stood with a confident, almost arrogant, posture.

"Who are you?" the boy asked.

"Harry Potter. And you would be the Heir?"

The boy smiled widely at that. "You are a clever one. I have so wanted to meet you. The great Harry James Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, the Defeater of Voldemort! What an honour!"

"Wonderful, a fanboy," Harry mocked. The older boy's eyes flared briefly. Then it was gone and the boy smiled charmingly.

"Where are my manners? I am Tom Marvolo Riddle. And as you guessed, I am the Heir to the great Salazar Slytherin!

"But I am curious, Harry," the newly named Tom continued, "do you know how you managed to defeat the greatest wizard in history?"

"Do you mean Merlin?" Harry asked in mock earnestness. "or Dumbledore? Oh, wait you could also mean Gandalf or Miracle Max!"

"Voldemort, you insolent twit!" Tom roared out. "You are as annoying as this stupid little girl always writing about mythical creatures. Her mind was so twisted it made it impossible to fully possess her. But soon she will be dead and I will have enough power to move about on my own!"

Harry resisted turning back to look at the unconscious witch. He glanced down to see a small book sitting on the floor near Tom's feet. He could read the writing on the front.

T.M. Riddle

'Writing about mythical creatures,' Harry thought.

"What are you?" he asked aloud.

"Me?" Tom responded with an evil smile. "I am a gift, an insurance policy if you will. So long as I exist Lord Voldemort shall never die. Soon our little witch's bones will be left to rot in this place along with yours. And then I shall seek out my elder part and see Lord Voldemort returned to his true place of power!"

"Don't you get it yet, my little wizard?" Tom mocked as he started to spell out his name in flames. Then he seemed to tap it and the letters rearranged themselves. As the words appeared Tom read it out.

"I AM LORD VOLDEMORT!"

"You were bored in History of Magic too, weren't you?"

Tom Riddle continued speaking as though Harry never spoke. "The crazy little bint was never supposed to get my diary. Lucius shall pay for that error. The Weasley brat is the seventh child and first daughter born in seven generations. Sacrificing her soul while absorbing her magic would have been enough to give me life of my own. Now I must re-join my elder for life."

"Was I supposed to understand any of that?" Harry asked. "You're monologueing. That is what the bad guy does just before everything usually goes to shite."

"Silence, fool! Enough of your foolish arrogance - I tire of this place and you. Now you shall meet your death!" Tom turned and faced the statue. "Speak to me, greatest of the Hogwarts Four!"

Harry didn't wait to see what happened. He pointed his wand at Tom and yelled out, "Expelliarmus!"

The pulse of magical energy passed cleanly through Tom's body. He turned to Harry with a grin. "Sorry, I don't have a body yet. And once I do it will be far too late for both of you, hero."

Harry was shocked. How was he supposed to fight this?

A slight movement caught Harry's eye and almost caused him to go into shock again. A gigantic snake was emerging from the statue's mouth. This wasn't good.

"As the Heir of your Master, I order you to kill this intruder!" Tom demanded with an odd hiss to his voice.

"Yes, master," the snake responded.

"Stop!" Harry yelled back at the snake.

The snake paused a moment and it seemed … unsure. "Two masters?"

"How do you speak the Tongue of the Serpents?" Tom demanded. "You are not of the line of Slytherin!"

Harry hadn't even realized he had been speaking Paseltongue. After the way everyone freaked out in the Great Hall, it hadn't been something he'd experimented with- it just sounded like English to him after all. Although he knew now how stupid he was not to realize after the snakes in the bathroom and the doors responded to him.

Harry ignored Tom's question to focus on the snake. "Don't bite me," he commanded. "Go back to your nest."

The snake's tongue flickered in the air a couple times as it seemed to consider. "You are not of the True Master's line. I must follow the commands of the True Master's line." The snake turned its head to stare at Harry. He felt some force pass by him and shivered.

"Of course, a Paselmouth is immune to a basilisk's gaze," Tom commented aloud. "Bite him!"

"Master."

The snake continued out of the statue's mouth as Harry tried not to panic. He'd read about basilisks but their gaze was supposed to kill, not petrify. Only seeing its reflection was supposed to reduce the effect but they had ten students and a cat petrified. Chance might have allowed one to be petrified instead of killed but all of them? Something to think about later.

"You haven't a chance, boy," Tom taunted. "Your schoolboy spells can do nothing against the magnificence of the basilisk!"

Harry ignored him as he dropped his school robe. In an instant he went from a small wizard standing still to a large black werewolf moving flat out.

"What the Hell?" Tom yelped in shock.

The coiled basilisk shot forward in an attempt to catch its prey but the werewolf dodged. The snake smacked into one of the pillars with a jarring crash. Harry used the moment to start running through the pillars, weaving in and out.

The basilisk chased its prey but was not able to launch a strike stretched out like it was.

After five pillars, Harry suddenly doubled back. The basilisk tried to turn with him but the turn was too tight. In an instant Harry was on the monster's back his nails digging into the tough hide.

Harry tried to slash the basilisk with his claws but his strikes just scratched the surface. The basilisk started to twitch and roll in attempt to get the attacker off of it. Harry held on but was bucked off and smashed against the chamber wall. He'd felt at least one rib crack from the force of the hit. He could feel the healing start but didn't know if he'd have time.

The basilisk now turned to face Harry. It was poised to strike. In the background he could hear Tom's shouts of encouragement and mockery but ignored them. When the snake struck it would be …

The basilisk struck with only a milliseconds warning. Harry managed to grab one of the long fangs but his injured side kept him from grabbing the other one. The fang sank deep into Harry's shoulder causing the werewolf to howl in pain. The snake tried to draw back but Harry kept his grip on the fang. With a sudden wrench he tore the fang out.

The basilisk recoiled in shocked pain as Harry sank to the ground. With the fang gone from his shoulder, it was now bleeding freely. He could feel the poison starting to take effect. His right arm was going numb.

"Stop playing with him and kill him!" Tom was demanding.

Harry forced himself to his feet. With the fang in hand he stumbled over to where Luna lay at Tom's feet.

"Come here to die, creature?" Tom mocked. "The Boy-Who-Lived – nothing more than a common werewolf; a diseased creature! That will crush the sheep!"

Ignoring him, Harry forced himself to focus. There. He plunged the fang into the little black book.

"NO!" Tom screamed in shock and sudden agony. Harry slumped to the ground and watched as the shade seemed to waiver and then blinked out of existence.

Harry felt the basilisk suddenly slide up next to him.

"Intruder has defeated the true Master's Heir? Intruder has faced me in combat and wounded me like no other. That is to be respected. Why did you do this?"

Harry was in too much agony to speak. He reached over and pointed a claw at Luna.

"To defend a youngling? True Master placed Sasha here with the charge to defend his school and its younglings. Master's Heir said some of the younglings were a threat, yet you fight to defend another youngling. One thinks the true Master and his friends would approve. Go with my blessing."

The basilisk slithered away back towards the statue. Harry could do nothing as he felt the paralysis spreading throughout his body. It was only the werewolf's strength that kept him alive this long.

Harry exhaled a little yelp in his pain. _Help?_ And then again.

There was a sudden flash of fire overhead and a bird appeared. It was brightly coloured and sang a song that brought joy to Harry's heart even as the weakness settled in further. Fawkes? He had seen the phoenix in the Headmaster's office on his one visit and heard the student gossip but never interacted with the magical bird.

The bird landed on Harry's furry chest and looked him right in the eye. The bird's expression seemed to say, "What took you so long?" Then it bent its head over his wound as Harry at last passed out.

-I-

Awareness started to return to Harry. There was some pain, but not as much as he'd expected (assuming he lived). He forced his eyes open only to see an upside-down Luna staring down at him.

"Are you feeling better, Furry Potter?" Harry tried to answer but settled on simply nodding instead. He also noticed he'd returned to human form.

"The phoenix was still healing you when I woke up. He seemed very sad. He cried all over you. You need to be careful. Nargles are attracted to phoenix tears."

"You okay?" Harry managed to get out.

Luna nodded vigorously sending her hair flying about. "It was jolly painful but I am fine now. I don't think Tom liked it in my head. I don't know why. I have a lovely time in here."

Harry started to laugh but it hurt too much. He was sure that inside Luna's head was … an interesting place. He forced himself to sit up. He realized now he'd been using Luna's lap as a pillow.

As he sat up his eyes fell on the remains of the diary lying nearby. He particularly noticed the black, tar-like substance that had oozed out of it. It was just like the stuff that had come out of his scar after he'd been bitten. Coincidence or could the magic of the diary be related to what happened to him?

A trill of sound pulled Harry's attention away from the diary. He saw Fawkes perched high up on the statue's prominent nose. The statue's mouth was closed again with no sign of the basilisk in sight. Fawkes let out another trill of song that seemed to be encouragement.

"I think he wants to leave," Luna commented absently as she looked curiously around the chamber. "I doubt a creature of Fire and Air likes being stuck in Earth." Fawkes's answering trill sounded like laughter. Luna helped Harry to his feet. Harry could feel his wounds healing. The poison seemed to be gone. Luna left Harry and went over to pick up his discarded robes. She handed them to Harry.

"Thank you for coming for me, Harry Potter." Harry tried to smile through his weakness; the fight and the poison had taken a lot out of him.

"I'm just glad I could help. Ron's sister came and told me you'd been taken. She was very worried for you." Harry frowned as another thought came to him. "Also, Hermione and Padma were petrified tonight. I don't like people attacking my friends."

Luna smiled softly. "Ginevra is remarkably free of scrabbling dilwillys. I am sure your friends will be fine. Padma has always been polite to me." Harry felt there was something unsaid in Luna's words but didn't have the strength to pursue it right now.

The pair of students made their way slowly towards the entrance to the Chamber but Fawkes had other ideas. The phoenix landed on Harry's shoulder with a trill. Fire suddenly seemed to consume the students but an instant later it cleared and they were in the Hospital Wing.

"Oh my, that was nice," Luna giggled happily. Harry's response was cut off by Madam Pomfrey.

"What is going on here? Miss Lovegood? I thought you were missing?"

Luna focused her grey eyes on the school Healer. "I've been with me the whole time. I wasn't always in control of me but I was always with me so how could I be missing?"

Madam Pomfrey looked confused by that answer but threw it off a moment later. "Are either of you hurt?"

"Harry was," Luna answered. "A big snake took a half a bite out of him but Fawkes dripped phoenix-juice all over him and he seems better."

Harry couldn't help commenting, "A half a bite?"

Luna turned her guileless eyes on him. "Well, Furry, it was only one fang so it wouldn't be right to call it a whole bite."

Harry snorted, "Fair enough."

Madam Pomfrey ignored their byplay to cast a diagnostic charm on Harry. The response confused her.

"I see the signs of the wound and the poison damage. While some poison remains it seems to have been neutralized by the tears. It must have been only a small amount of poison for the tears to have cleared it so fast. Odd. The wound to your shoulder seems to have healed nicely as well. A small scar will be all that is left. Next time, come in sooner and I can heal it so there is no scar left."

"Don't plan on trying it again," Harry retorted in a tired voice.

Pomfrey continued, ignoring Harry's response. "The tiredness is from the depletion of your magical core. Have you been casting spells above your year, Mr Potter? I warn you that doing so before your core has stabilized can have long-term negative consequences to your magical abilities. You only get one core, Mr Potter. Do not abuse it."

"Yes, madam," Harry answered. Harry hadn't really cast many spells down in the Chamber or felt tired after changing into the Beast. He guessed it was from the fight or fighting the effects of the poison but how was he to explain that without revealing his secret?

Madam Pomfrey made a doubtful noise before handing Harry a small potion vial. "This is Pepper-Up. It will hurry the restoration of your core and remove the tired feeling you have right now." Harry quickly downed the smelly potion and instantly felt his energy levels returning to normal.

"The potion only masks the symptoms, Mr Potter," the Healer warned. "You need a good night's rest to allow your core to recover naturally. Then you are to refrain from all spell casting outside of class for the next week. I shall send a note to your Head of House about your casting above year spells.

'Great,' Harry thought. 'Now McGonagall is going to be watching me or have the Prefects do it for her. Note to self: if you are going to act the idiot hero, don't get caught doing it.'

Madam Pomfrey cast a similar diagnostic charm on Luna and grimaced at the results. "Ms Lovegood, what have you been doing? Your core seems like it was almost … removed but is re-establishing itself rapidly. I don't know of any normal way for this to happen. I've never even seen a case even remotely like this since I was in the healer academy and that was a Dark sacrifice that the Aurors stopped." The Healer seemed to be in some shock.

"I think Professor Dumbldore needs to be aware of this. Mr Potter, please take Ms Lovegood to the Headmaster's office. I shall Floo ahead and let him know you are on your way. Neither of you should Floo in your current condition. I believe he already notified Ms Lovegood's father of her disappearance and should be there with him."

Anxious to get away, Harry readily agreed.

-II-

Harry wouldn't have agreed so readily if he'd realized what he was walking into in the Headmaster's office. First Luna and her father had leapt into each other's arms and cried about almost losing each other. Harry was fine with that until they both grabbed Harry and pulled him in too. All that touching and crying really made him uncomfortable.

It wasn't until they released him that he realized the Headmaster had several people in the office already. Professors McGonagall and Flitwick were there. An older witch with a monocle was introduced as Madam Bones, head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. With her was a wizard with hair as wild as Hermione's. He was introduced as the Head Auror Rufus Scrimgeour. A pair of his Aurors stood unobtrusively against the wall next to the Floo but never spoke.

Also in the office was a blond haired man with a snake handled cane he instantly knew to be Draco's father. While the little ponce never attempted to attack Harry or his friends again, he'd remained a constant low-level annoyance all year. His favourite topic being his father and how powerful he was. Professor Dumbledore introduced Mr Malfoy as being a representative of the school's Board of Governors.

'Looks like the little rat wasn't lying about that,' Harry thought.

The biggest surprise was the presence of Professor Lockhart sitting on a plain wooden stool with his hands clasped in front of him in a pair of odd looking handcuffs. The usually well groomed and dressed man looked rather dishevelled and miserable starring glumly at the floor.

"Professor?" Harry asked questioningly towards Dumbledore.

"Ah, yes Mr Potter! Thank you for resolving the case of Miss Lovegood's disappearance. Obviously, the addition to the wall writing was someone's example of a tasteless prank." The professor peered over his half-moon glasses and seemed to try to pass Harry a message.

"Um, I guess so, professor." The Headmaster didn't seem to want to hear the whole story in front of these people. Since the group included Draco's father, Harry was willing to play along.

"Well boy, who was it?" Lucius Malfoy demanded. "Who did this 'prank'?"

"He's gone now, sir," Harry replied in a very polite tone. "It was some old man that claimed he'd been a student here once. He said he was trying to make the school look bad."

"And who was this man?" Madam Bones asked.

"Riddle," Harry answered. "Tom Riddle" Harry noticed Mr Malfoy's slight flinch when Voldemort's true name was mentioned. Dumbledore merely nodded as though confirming something he already knew.

Madam Bones turned to her Head Auror, saying, "Rufus, get an alert out for one Tom Riddle and have the school archives searched for any background on him."

Scrimgeour nodded. "We should pass it on to the continent too. He could easily be out of Britain by now." Bones nodded her agreement and the Head Auror left followed by his two Aurors and the still manacled Lockhart.

"Professor McGonagall?" Harry asked with a glance towards the Floo. His Head of House understood the glance.

"Professor Lockhart was found engaging in a … injudicious and illegal activity when we were locking down the school. He will no longer be your Defence instructor." Harry realized that was all she was going to tell him. Later he would hear about the two Sixth year girls drugged on Lust potions found in his personal quarters. These particular potions left the victim with complete memories of the event but thinking they were a particularly vivid dream.

"Excuse me, Professor Dumbledore," Mr Lovegood interrupted, "but I would like to take Luna home for a few days."

"Of course," Dumbledore agreed. "I am sure Professor Flitwick would be happy to take you both to Ravenclaw Tower so your daughter may collect her things."

Mr Lovegood acknowledged this with a smile. He then turned to Harry. "Mr Potter, I owe you a debt that can never be repaid. After losing her mother, the thought of losing my Luna as well …" The man's voice trailed off as if the thought was too much to complete.

"I understand," Harry said. "I wouldn't want anyone else to lose all of their family."

The Lovegoods left with Professor Flitwick. Then Mr Malfoy stood to leave.

"I shall take my leave, Albus. I expect a complete report of tonight's events to be provided to the Board within the week."

"Of course, Lucius."

The elder Malfoy gave a short, almost mocking, bow before turning and leaving the room.

"Professor," Harry asked, "may I be excused? It's been a long night."

"Of course my dear boy," Dumbledore allowed with a wave. "We shall talk in the morning when you have recovered your strength."

"Do you need assistance getting back to our tower?" McGonagall asked.

Harry declined, "No, professor. I should be fine."

As soon as Harry cleared the office door, he started running through the dark, empty Hogwarts hallways. He managed to catch up to Mr Malfoy in the Entrance Hall.

"Mr Malfoy, I found something you left here," Harry said causing Malfoy to whirl about.

"Something of mine, boy?" Malfoy hissed. "Well, give it to me and be quick about it!"

"Actually, it isn't really yours. You just gave it to someone to bring here. Actually it was Tom's."

"I had nothing to do with that!" Malfoy denied. "And I will take you for all the Potters are worth if you ever try to say otherwise!"

Harry smiled wolfishly. "Oh I don't need to take you to court, Mr Malfoy. See Tom was a bit angry with you and went off a bit on how you gave his diary to the wrong witch. He was really unhappy with you.

"I've heard Voldemort was never very forgiving of the servants that failed him. What would he say over the loss of this?" Harry held up the unblemished backside of the diary.

"Give that here, boy!" Malfoy demanded as he lunged for the diary. Harry was relatively weak but he still had something to give. The backhanded blow knocked the larger wizard to the ground and left four teeth scattered on the floor.

"Wow, that is two more than your son lost," Harry commented.

"I will see in you prison for this!" Malfoy threatened as he rose up.

Harry smirked. "You are going to testify that a twelve year-old beat you down with one hit? My think how the press will handle that." Malfoy glared impotently as Harry smiled.

"I have a deal to offer," Harry said. "The diary for something of yours. Dobby the house-elf."

"Dobby?" Malfoy spat. "That worthless cringing nothing? He was my mother's and always incompetent. Deal, Potter! Now give me the diary!"

"Dobby first."

"Dobby!"

A small pop and then "Master calls Dobby?"

"Here take it!" A small handkerchief was thrust out. "I free you. Never return to the Malfoy Manor!"

Dobby took the small cloth with a trembling hand. "Master free Dobby?" he asked in a wondering voice. Dobby turned to see Harry standing there. "Great Harry Potter! Harry Potter makes bad old master free Dobby!"

Malfoy sneered. "Now, the diary! Give it here, boy!"

Harry tossed the diary over to the elder wizard. The blonde wizard caught it but something felt off. He turned it over and saw the hole left from the basilisk's fang.

"You tricked me, Potter!" he roared while drawing his wand from the cane.

"You shall not harm Harry Potter!" Dobby proclaimed. The little elf threw his hands forward and a magical force pulsed out. It smashed into the surprised wizard and sent him flying out the front doors of the school. The doors then swung shut with a solid thud.

Dobby turned to look up at Harry with an adoring gaze. "Great Harry Potter has freed Dobby. Dobby hasn't even kept his promise to Harry Potter yet! Truly Harry Potter is as wise and kind as the stories tell!"

Harry had to smile at that. Dobby was always good for his ego. "What promise?" Harry asked.

"Why to get Harry Potter a new family so Harry Potter sir doesn't have to stay at Hogwarts all the time! But Dobby will soon! Soon the Dogfather will be back! And Dobby will take care of great Harry Potter and his Dogfather! I can't wait!"

Before Harry could speak, Dobby was gone with a pop.

Harry could only look at the place Dobby had just been with an odd mixture of fear and anticipation. Dobby meant well but Harry was sure Dobby's good intentions often had wildly unanticipated side-effects.

"Maybe the basilisk will let me stay with her," Harry mused as he made his way back to his dorm. "It might be safer."

-III-

The next morning the recovery of Luna Lovegood was completely overshadowed by the arrest of Professor Lockhart. The gossips were running wild as three more students had supposedly come forward with reports of similar 'dreams'. The gossips were taking note of who missed breakfast as other possible victims.

It was not until just before the students were to leave for their classes that Dumbledore stood up to speak.

"As you have no doubt heard, Professor Lockhart is no longer with us. Your Defence classes for now shall be taught by a rotation of professors based on their normal class schedules. While I have no doubt the Daily Prophet will carry full details of Professor Lockhart's difficulties, please allow the investigation to continue and refrain from asking your remaining professors about it."

This caused a significant amount of murmuring to occur amongst the students. In the lack of real information, the students would make up their own.

"Finally, I would like to acknowledge Mr Harry Potter with 50 points for Gryffindor for his recovery of Miss Lovegood. Mr Potter also identified the person responsible for the petrifications the school has seen recently. It seems a former student was attempting to destroy Hogwarts using the old legend of the Chamber of Secrets. The Department of Magical Law Enforcement is now hunting this individual. For those of you concerned with our petrified students, please relax as Madam Pomfrey and Professor Sprout assure me the required Mandrakes will be mature enough for harvesting in eight weeks so all of our students will be restored to us before final exams.

"Now, off to class with you."

Dumbledore's public announcement of Harry's role was met with mixed reactions. While a few members of the Boy-Who-Lived fan club cheered, most of the older students and all the Slytherins gave Harry looks that the mildest could be called distasteful and the worst outright hatred.

With long experience from Privet Drive, Harry ignored the looks in his direction as he joined Ron, Ernie and the other Gryffindor and Hufflepuff Second years making their way to Herbology.

"Well we better enjoy the next two months," Ron commented as they made their way outside.

The comment shocked Harry out of his thoughts. "How can you say that, Ron?" Harry demanded.

Ron looked at Harry with an incredulous look but his lips fought a slight grin. "Do you know what Hermione's going to be like when she wakes up with two months passed and exams just around the corner? She going to go spare! And Padma is going to be right there with her!"

Ernie snickered at the image. "Ron's right. It doesn't happen too often…"

"Oi!"

"…but he is. The girls are going to demand to see every note or assignment we do for the next two months. Then they are going to force us to revise with them every spare moment. And then they will still beat all of us in the exams," Ernie concluded.

"Exactly!" Ron said. "And still, oi!" Ron's protests got a laugh form Harry and Ernie.

The group of relieved students continued down to the greenhouses continuing to discuss the girls' reactions when they finally woke and to mock Ron.

-IV-

5 June 1993

The students filled the Great Hall for one last breakfast before boarding the Hogwarts Express for the journey home.

All of the students that were petrified had been returned to normal. And exactly as predicted, Hermione and Padma were almost hysterical in their worry over making up the last two months of work and lost revision time. The girls were happy to receive Harry and Ernie's notes. Mostly Ernie's notes because half of Harry's and all of Ron's were illegible or incomplete. The girls were better off than some that would have to repeat the year as they had simply missed too much of the year to catch up in the little time they had remaining.

"Hello, Furry Potter."

Harry smiled and turned to face Luna. "Hi Luna. How are you today?"

"Better. All of my things came back much earlier than before the Winter Holidays," the grey-eyed blonde confided. "Some of the things that came back this morning stayed away the whole term! It is nice they wanted to come home for the summer."

Harry simply nodded as though he understood. "That is good."

They had managed to keep Luna's name out of the reports. So no one blamed her for the attacks in any way. Harry had told Dumbledore most of what happened in the Chamber of Secrets except for using his werewolf form and the similarity of the black ichor from the diary to what happened to his own scar.

Harry's reluctance to tell Dumbledore about his quasi-werewolf nature stemmed from Dumbledore's other positions. As Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, the powerful wizard oversaw the creation and judgement of laws in magical Britain- including the ones related to lycanthropes. Harry had no doubt the magical world would turn their backs on the Boy-Who-Lived in a moment to call him the Beast-That-Howled or some other stupid hyphenated title. Harry liked the old wizard but this was his life and he wasn't sure he could trust Dumbledore with it.

"Thank you for having your friends look out for me Furry Potter," Luna continued unaware of Harry's thoughts. "It has almost been like having friends of my own."

Harry opened his mouth to protest he was her friend but the spacey girl started skipping (literally skipping) down the aisle towards the main doors.

As she reached the doors, Luna called back, "Good luck with your adventures this summer, Furry! I'm sure you'll be fine!"

He could feel the Luna-ache coming on and wondered if Madam Pomfrey had any Pain Relief potions left. He loved the girl but all too often talking to Luna gave Harry a special kind of headache all her own.

"Harry!" Hermione called as she entered the Great Hall with Padma and Ron trailing in her wake. "Have you seen this?" she asked as she dropped a packet of papers onto the table.

Harry picked up the copy of the Daily Prophet Hermione had dropped. He read the headline placed in big bold letters across the top:

**Sirius Black Escapes from Azkaban!**

**You-Know-Who's Right Hand Man and Betrayer of the Potters Disappears from Cell without a Trace!**

Well, that was just perfect.

AN: So there was the Chamber of Secrets. The basilisk is still alive. Is it free from Voldemort's influence? Maybe. Because of canon changes the timeline was moved up so Dumbledore hadn't been forced out of the school yet. Also Harry and Dumbledore don't have the same relationship as in canon so no displays of loyalty to make the Sorting Hat show up with the sword. Harry's claws were not enough to penetrate the snake's scales.

To respond to several reviewer questions:

Luna is NOT a seer. Just an intelligent, observant girl with an odd view of things that give her perceptions that others miss. By the same token, she misses things most would see as obvious.

Harry told Padma and Ernie over the Winter Holidays which was after the scene in the classroom but before Harry's encounter with Luna.

Ron. A lot of people in fandom hate Ron. I get that. However, the Ron in this story is hot as isolated as in canon, just as Harry is not. I have Ronnie-kins. I just ask you try to have an open mind. Or don't. Just don't complain that he is still part of Harry's circle of friends.


	7. The Dogfather

**A/N: Well, it has been a crazy time since I posted ten days ago. My son decided to take a six month co-op in Idaho (2,700 miles away) while my daughter is packing to start school in Orlando, Florida (1,100 miles away) Then I get rear-ended sitting at a stop light. I'm fine but they totaled my convertible. It's been a hell of a week but I still had time to finish the chapter!**

The Dogfather

It has been said by many with extensive experience with the non-magical world that the magical world is long out of date to the advances of the modern times. Some of this is fair and some of it not. Part of the problem stems from it is a foreign culture for all that it exists in the same physical landmass and speaks the same language. Differences that would be accepted when visiting another nation irritate the Muggle-born or or wizard expecting English values and culture.

The problems arose from the splitting of the two worlds in the years shortly before the fall of the western portion of the Roman Empire. An anthropologist would consider a comparison between the two 'worlds' to be a fascinating study of divergent cultural evolution from a common source. The mundane world had great numbers but lacked the ability to meet their needs. Democracy and technology eventually developed to combat the violence, ignorance, and starvation of the Dark Ages. The Dark Ages themselves could be considered a direct effect of the sudden loss of magical resources and solutions. The mundane population had to overcome and adapt to their challenges. Their culture adapted in response to these changes.

The magical world actually saw an increase in resources with the split. Relieved of providing potions and other assistance to the mundane population, the magical population had a surplus. For a short time the magical world saw a period of unprecedented expansion and discovery but it wasn't to last. Unfortunately, within a generation or two the lack of necessity limited the drive to develop and innovate at the same rate as the mundane world. But still for over a thousand years the magical world maintained distinct advantages in medical care, transportation, education, destructive power, and virtually every other field. This long running superiority led many wizards into assuming a natural superiority over non-magical humans. But the mundane world continued to improve. By the mid- 20th Century, the average British mundane's standard of living matched that of their magical counterpart - even if the magical world refused to see it.

One area of difference was in criminal punishment. The magical world did not see much in the way of serious crime. The ability to conjure and transfigure items to meet your needs took away most criminal motives. Minor crimes were punished by loss of a wand temporarily or permanently, home imprisonment (via wards), or use of potions to prevent desire to commit the crime again. Major crimes were limited to murder, rape, Dark Magic use, violent attacks on Muggles, or treason. (Treason covered a wide range from attempts to overthrow the Ministry or repeated/wilfully breaking the Statute of Secrecy.) These crimes resulted in incarceration at Azkaban.

Azkaban prison started as the fortress of an ancient Dark Lord. He and his followers were the very first inmates to the prison. The use of his servants, the Dementors, to punish him was seen as being particularly poetic at the time. At the time, the prison was well above the standards of its mundane counterparts. However, time and a lack of interest in upgrades or even maintenance by the various magical governments had a prison to shame even the most oppressive mundane regime. Money spent on the former fortress was a waste of Galleons the Ministry reckoned. The small magical population rarely had more than a half-a-dozen prisoners at any given time historically. Even after You-Know-Who's fall it only reached twenty-two., the highest number in 300 years.

In short, it became a Hell on Earth.

The cells were cold and drafty. The wards prevented the majority of cold North Sea winds from penetrating the fortress walls. The remaining wards were sufficient to keep the prisoners' cells above freezing but the cold and lack of food took many prisoners' lives each year. It was no accident that the Minster for Magic's annual visit occurred during the brief summer experienced on the island. The Ministry sent seventeen Death Eaters to the prison after Voldemort's fall on life sentences. Yet by September of 1992, only twelve still survived.

-I-

8 December 1992

Sirius Black, Heir of the Most Noble and Ancient House of Black, reputed Death Eater, right-hand of the Dark Lord, and Betrayer of the Potters, lay huddled under a ratty old cloak in the small, dark cell. The days, weeks and months had blended together. At times it seemed he'd only just arrived in the cell a short time ago. At other times he'd been here forever.

His cell was made of thick stone walls with the floor and ceiling of the same material. A small window high up on the wall was the sole source of light in the cell. The door was made of vertical metal bars to close together for a human to fit through. While the door allowed the Dementors to get close and the occasional human jailor to check on the prisoners without opening the door, there was a blind spot on either side of the door. It was in this blind spot he was able to take the form of Padfoot without taking the chance that a human guard would see him in his Animagus form. His dog form was the key factor in retaining his sanity along with his knowledge that he was innocent of the charges against him. It was cold comfort but it was still some comfort.

Sirius's cell was the first one in his corridor. The cell across the way had been occupied a Death Eater named Oscar Beliemy that ironically had been captured by James Potter and Frank Longbottom. He had only survived a while before giving up and dying. The cell next door was occupied by his cousin, Bellatrix LeStrange. Bella was the 'perfect' Black and held up by Sirius's mum as the role model for her sons to aspire to. Now she'd lost the little sanity she had remaining screaming her loyalty to her master and calling for him to save her.

Sirius wondered how the 'perfect' Black was one willing to swear undying loyalty to someone outside the family. It never made sense to the family 'white sheep'.

A sudden little 'pop' snapped Sirius out of his absent musings.

"Yous is Sirius Black?" a voice asked.

"Wonderful," the ragged man rasped. "Now I am having delusions with house-elves. At least it's not that evil git of Mother's."

The house-elf cringed but took a tentative step forward. "Did dark dogwizard betray Great Harry Potter and his family?" the elf demanded in a squeaky voice.

Sirius surged forward in his anger. "I NEVER BETRAYED THE POTTERS!" Before the enraged wizard could reach him though, the elf was gone. Sirius stood there in his rage; revelling in the brief moment of life that filled him even in his anger.

"Finally joined up, cousin?" Bella called out mockingly. "Losing your mind in here? If you truly had joined the Dark Lord your reward would have been glorious!" She started to cackle.

"Shut up, you hag!" Sirius roared. "You lost your mind when you became a slave kissing her master's arse!"

Bellatrix's answering screech degenerated into screams and indecipherable shrieks that stirred up the other crazies. Soon that were all screaming and carrying on. Eventually, they attracted the Dementors and the screams turned into whimpers. But long before the Dementors arrived, Padfoot was curled up in his corner trying to ignore the screams. Instead he was wondering on the strange elf and what he wanted.

-II-

The next morning, Sirius Black woke to another delusion.

Next to his head was a silver platter with fine china and silverware. On the plate was an omelette filled with cheese and vegetables. Buttered toast lay next to the eggs. A glass of pumpkin juice stood next to the plate. Sirius almost wanted to cry at the smells coming from his delusion. His stomach clenched painfully as though suddenly remembering real food.

Sirius reached out a tentative hand; fearful of disturbing his delusion lest it go away. He was shocked when his hand made contact with the plate. He gently prodded the eggs with his dirty fingers. It didn't go away.

With an odd groan, the famished wizard fell on the plate of food foregoing the fancy silverware. The food tasted so good going down. He couldn't help eating faster in fear that someone would suddenly come to take it away. Even when his stomach rebelled from the sudden arrival of so much food, he kept eating.

Eventually, the pain grew too much and Sirius had to push away from the meal's remains. Sirius lay on the ground and fought to keep the food down. He barely noticed when the platter blinked away only to be replaced by a small blue vial. A part of his mind recognized the potion and he gingerly drank the small vial's contents. The Stomach-Reliever Potion quickly did just that leaving Sirius Black to enjoy his first full stomach in far too long.

After that morning, the meals arrived at regular intervals although never with as much food as on that first time. Along with the meals would be the occasional potions. While never a potions prodigy like Lily, Sirius was able to recognize most as being common Healing and Nutrition potions. After some time of this, Sirius began to see signs of returning weight and health. His mind also began to clear which was something of a mixed blessing.

It was late in the afternoon when a meal arrived that Sirius finally whispered out, "Hello? Who is helping me? Please talk to me." But nothing happened. He kept trying at the next few meals as well.

Then one morning the same house-elf from weeks ago appeared in front of Sirius again.

"Great Harry Potter's Dogfather feeling better?" he asked in a tentative, fearful voice.

"Yes, thank you," the animagus acknowledged. "I feel much better. Why are you helping me?"

The house-elf looked up with an earnest expression on its big-eyed face. "Harry Potter sir needs a safe place to live. Dobby promise to find him one. Dobby able to follow Potter family magic connection to Dogfather. Innocent Dogfather best choice for Great Harry Potter sir. But Dogfather can't help Great Harry Potter stuck in cell licking hisself all day."

Sirius had to wince at that last piece of imagery. "Harry needs help?" he asked. "How old is he now? He must still be a little boy."

"Great Harry Potter is Second year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Dangerous things going on at Hogwarts. Harry Potter must be kept safe!"

"A Second year?" Sirius muttered. "I've been here that long?"

"Yes, Mr Dogzard, sir," the odd elf answered nodding his head. Floppy ears went everywhere.

"How are you here?" Sirius asked. "Don't the wards prevent family elves from coming here?"

"Wards keep house-elves from serving bad masters sent to Evil Place. Mr Dogzard is not Dobby's master or master's family. Since master not send Dobby wards not stop Dobby."

Sirius was struck by the loop-hole. "And no one knows about this hole?"

The little elf shrugged. "No one ask elves."

Sirius snickered at the answer. The little guy may seem all meek and beaten down, but Sirius recognized the elf had the makings of a Marauder with that answer.

"Can you get me out of here, Dobby?"

The little elf's ears dropped. "Dobby can't do. Wards stop Dobby from taking Mr Dogzard out of Evil Place. Dobby bring Harry Potter sir's Dogzard food and clotheses."

Sirius thought furiously. The thought that Harry needed him cut through the accumulated years of depression and madness caused by the dementors. A mad plan started to form in his head. Of course it was insane- the entire concept of escaping from Azkaban was insane!

"Dobby, can you meet me when I get to shore with warm, dry clothes, food, and a wand?"

Dobby nodded sending his ears thrashing around wildly again. "Dobby do that. Bad Master has many wands. Dobby can bring. Oh! Dobby say bad thing about Master! Dobby must punish Dobby when Dobby get home."

Sirius had seen more than his share of oddly behaved house-elves growing up in the Black family. His mother's elf, Kreacher, was so bloody insanely devoted that he terrorized Sirius as a child simply because his mother didn't approve of her eldest son's attitude, while Regulus appeared to be the perfect Black son so the elf doted on him. However, Sirius had never heard of an elf so willing to go against its bonded family.

"When is the next new moon?"

Dobby peered up at the gaunt wizard. "Five days, Mr Dogzard."

Sirius smiled. "Okay, Dobby. Here's what we're going to do…"

-III-

21 May 1993

To Sirius's disappointment, and Dobby's increasing panic, Padfoot's escape had to be delayed until May.

The Azkaban's island was about a mile northwest of the Scottish island of Westray. Strong wards kept the island away from Muggle eyes and off their charts. The shipping charts showed a shoal that was a navigation hazard that had been used by the Royal Navy as a gunnery range. As such, both commercial and fishing vessels steered clear of the area. However, its position also left it exposed to the fury of the North Atlantic in winter. While the wards kept the worst of the wind out of the prison, the island itself along with the surrounding sea had no such protection.

Sirius realized he needed three things to successfully escape from the island. First he needed to be able to avoid the dementors once out of his cell. This was solved as Padfoot was virtually invisible to the demon-like creatures. Once outside the prison proper, he needed to avoid detection by the human guards. For that he needed the darkness of the new moon. Finally, he needed the weather to cooperate if he were to have a chance of swimming the mile through the cold water.

Padfoot slipped out of the cell after using a key Dobby had 'borrowed' from a guard. It was late and even the crazies were asleep, whimpering in their dreams. No one noticed the large, albeit emaciated, dog make its way silently through the prison. Prisoners stayed in their cells all day except for once per year when they are taken out for their annual cleaning and health check so Sirius was quickly in unknown territory. Fortunately, Dobby had scouted the safest path to a little used sally port left over from the prison's days as a functional fortress.

It was almost anticlimactic getting to the water's edge. Padfoot encountered no guards, human or dementor, and no alarms were raised. The swim was even worse than he'd expected.

The seas were relatively calm but the cold water was like a thousand needles stabbing him at once through Padfoot's fur. He kept his godson's image in mind and mental repeated, 'He needs me' as he kept paddling.

-IV-

"Mr Dogzard feeling better?"

Sirius was confused as he woke up about where he was. A quick glance around made him quickly realize he was no longer in his cell. He'd done it! He seemed to be in a barn of some type based on the smell of clean straw.

"Here. Harry Potter sir's Dogzard drink this now." A warm cup of tea was pushed into the now sitting Sirius Black's hands.

"Thank you, Dobby. Where are we? How did we get here?"

"Dobby find Mr Dogzard washed up on shore. Dobby bring to farm owned by bad old Master's company. Dobby able to gather everything Mr Dogzard need here with no one seeing. If wizard Aurors come, they find bad old Master's things." Sirius snickered at the elf setting up Lucius Malfoy for helping his escape. Who knew elves were such devious little blighters?

Sirius realized his wet prison garb was gone and he was dressed in soft, warm wizarding robes that had seen better days but were still serviceable. The new clothes felt odd after wearing the same clothes every day for almost a year. A bowl of hot stew sat on a small table within reach of the pallet Sirius was sitting on. Sirius's stomach rumbled in response to the smells.

Sirius shook his head in disbelief. "This is perfect, Dobby."

"Dobby just want to make Harry Potter sir happy! Harry Potter sir save the school and the Looney One and then free Dobby from Bad Master even though Dobby not able to keep his promise to find the Great Harry Potter a new family in time!" Dobby started wailing with big tears streaming down his face. "Harry Potter sir is too good to Dobby!"

Sirius was torn between concern the elf's noise would attract attention and amusement at the little guy's devotion to his godson. Merlin, he was worse the Kreacher! If Harry wasn't careful Dobby would start stealing his dirty shorts to snog!

"So, Harry isn't in danger right now?" the escapee asked.

"Harry Potter sir is safe for now. Harry Potter sir makes it that way. Dobby make it so Harry Potter's Dogzard won't be missed from the Evil Place for while so Dogzard has time to rest before going to Great Harry Potter. Now Dobby must go."

The elf disappeared with a pop leaving the bemused … and exhausted wizard behind. Sirius finished his meal before snuggling back into his blankets to sleep.

-V-

20 June 1993

It took the better part of a month for Sirius to really start feeling … well, sane. Dobby's assistance over the previous months was a great start but being away from the 'Evil Place' made an even bigger difference. Dobby continued to provide food and potions to the fugitive wizard. The little elf also gave the fugitive his first shave and haircut in over ten years. The transformation from insane looking fugitive to close cut well-groomed hair with a tight goatee was nothing short of magical.

Dobby also arrived with a box of wands for Sirius to try. "Trophies from bad old master. He not miss from Hidden Place," was all the elf said as he popped in to drop them off.

Sirius went through the box both excited and fearful. He was excited to finally have a wand. But he was also afraid of what he would find.

The fourth wand he tried confirmed his fear. He recognized the wand. It belonged to Edgar Bones. He also found wands belonging to the Prewett twins and another he thought belonged to Caradoc Dearborn. Apparently Lucius kept the wands from people he killed as trophies. The very thought made Sirius queasy two weeks later. Eventually, Sirius found a wand that was a near match for his old one. Fortunately it didn't belong to anyone he'd known from the 'Old Crowd'.

The farm Dobby had taken Sirius was located well to the south in England, near the village of Staplehurst in Kent. The farm seemed abandoned to both magical and muggle use. It was only the inside of the large barn that still seemed maintained. When asked, Dobby only said, "Bad old master use it for emergency storage." Based on the combined Muggle-repelling and privacy wards, Sirius guessed ol'Lucius was using this place for storing black market goods. It amused Sirius to think the wards intended to protect Malfoy's illegal goods were also hiding him from Ministry detection. Have to love the irony.

Today was the first day since his escape that Sirius had left the farm. He needed to find the rat so he could clear his name, but first he needed to do something else.

He needed to check on his godson.

Sirius was able to easily slip into the crowded Staplehurst railway station. It was full of commuters on their way to London. Dressed as an office-worker, no one gave the thin, pale, dark haired man a second glance. Sirius enjoyed being surrounded by people again. He felt alive for the first time in years. And it had nothing to do with the pair of attractive young women standing on either side of him that kept bumping into him as the train wound its way through the English countryside.

-VI-

Padfoot sat in the shade of a large oak tree in a park in the city of St Albans with his tail wagging happily. He'd tracked his godson to a large house in an exclusive section of the city. It had a rather high stone wall surrounding its garden along with some impressive wards. A slight warning tingle informed Padfoot when he'd reached the first wards and that he wasn't an invited guest. So he decided to wait. And now he was about to get his reward.

The sun was starting to set when he caught his first glimpse of his godson. Harry was walking with an attractive young witch of Indian descent. They were talking and laughing as they walked. Padfoot followed them to this park in a particular mix of joy and pain.

Harry's face and hair looked so much like James, except he had Lily's eyes and he was missing James's trademark glasses. Harry's build was much heavier than James. His shoulders were much broader and he looked much more muscular. It was painful to look at that face seeing the reflection of James but he rejoiced in the knowledge this was his pup!

Padfoot watched the barely teenagers stroll through the park. (Actually, Harry wasn't even a teenager yet Sirius realized. Not for another month!) He saw them playing on the swings and sitting on a bench together feeding a swan. He had a wide doggie grin when he noticed Harry's hand creep uncertainly to take the girl's hand and her shy smile in response.

Padfoot's tail was thumping on the ground as he watched the young couple. They'd stopped talking now and kept glancing at each other awkwardly.

"Come on, Harry!" Sirius wanted to yell. "Just do it! She wants you to!"

'Merlin, I hope James and Lily are watching this now," Sirius thought happily. 'I need to get a Pensieve. This will be worth a lot in blackmail!'

'Yes, yes, YES!' the animagus mentally howled as Harry cautiously leant over to kiss the pretty young witch on the cheek. They both pulled back with shy smiles while Harry turned beat red.

It was too much for Padfoot.

The large black dog ran out from under the tree straight for the teenagers. His barking laughter warned the pair just before he skidded to a stop at Harry's feet. Before they could move Padfoot was up on his hind legs and putting his forelegs on Harry's shoulders.

Then the long, wet, sloppy doggie kisses started. Padfoot ignored the boy's protests and attempts to push him away in his excitement. His little pup had his first kiss!

The girl's laughter caught Padfoot's attention. He paused in his licking of Harry's face to give her a long wet lick from chin to hairline. At her squeal of protest, Padfoot gave Harry one last lick before turning on his hind paws to dash off.

-VII-

Sirius knew Wormtail had never been caught after faking his own death. The little rat was always the best of the Marauders when it came to stealth. When they created the Map, Wormtail was the one able to find a way to access all of the really tough rooms like professors' private rooms. Moony was the brains working out the way to get the magic to work. Prongs was their captain, developing the ideas and tactics for their pranks. And Padfoot? Padfoot was the muscle or the one dumb enough to actually put the prank in place.

The Marauders always laughed that Padfoot with his entire family in Slytherin was almost Hufflepuff in his loyalty to the Marauders (particularly James) while Wormtail, with his family in Hufflepuff was the most Slytherin in his cunning and ambition. They had often laughed at this mirroring over drinks. In Fifth year they had actually started handing in their homework with their names as Peter Black and Sirius Pettigrew.

The irony that the Black family would have been proud of Peter's cunning staging of his own death while framing Sirius was not lost on Sirius either.

Padfoot investigated the Pettigrew family home near Shrewsbury. Peter's mum died two years after her son's supposed death. There was no sign the house had seen a visitor in years. The dust was undisturbed. Padfoot sniffed around but didn't catch any hint of Wormtail's scent.

The next stop was Godric's Hollow. Sirius didn't think Wormtail would have stayed there but Sirius's 'old friend' loved to hide in the least likely of places. Wormtail was the only Marauder not caught in the Great 1977 Hufflepuff Knicker Raid. The little rat slipped into Professor Sprout's robe pocket and took a nap while the professors ran about looking for him. So the idea of the rat hiding at the site of his betrayal was not out of character.

Sirius found some sign of a rat in the house. After the Ministry repaired the roof and other damage for the Dark Lord's attack, they made the house into a National Landmark. It looked exactly like it had when Sirius last saw it right down to the pictures on the wall. Only the personal items had been removed to the Potter vault for Harry to eventually claim. Padfoot caught Wormtail's scent leading to the place where James died but nothing going up the stairs to where Lily was murdered and the You-Know-Who was defeated. The scent was several days old but it proved the rat was still alive and probably still in Britain.

-VIII-

The big break came late one afternoon in late August. Padfoot was stalking … er, watching Harry and his friends at the Longbottom estate. Frank had keyed all of the Marauders into the manor's wards back when they had all been members of the Order of the Phoenix. Frank never had time to remove Sirius from the wards and his formidable mother never knew they had been added.

From underneath a bush trimmed into the shape of a dragon, the large dog watched the students at play. He counted at least twelve students along with a smattering of parents also. They were having a 'back-to-school' picnic. Young Neville was the picture of Alice with her round face and wide smile. He'd probably have Frank's build when he was older but his face was so much like his mum. He also spotted a young red-haired girl near Amelia Bones and guessed it was Edgar's daughter, Susan. Poor girl's father is murdered six weeks before she is born and then loses her mother in the last Death Eater raid before Voldemort's fall. Still, Amelia was good people even if having the Head of the DMLE here meant two Auror bodyguards lurking about complicating matters. Sirius also noted three boys that he knew could only be Weasleys when he saw Molly yelling at them.

Sirius watched the kids playing Quidditch. Harry was even more insane on a broom than his father. Lily would be going spare watching him. They should have guessed he'd be great on a broom after James bought him the little training broom that only went a foot off the ground and moved at a slow walk. It even had cushioning charms in case he fell off. However, even with the safety charms the little pup push it to the limit and drive Lily's cat insane chasing it all over the house with the one year-old laughing hysterically.

The Weasley twins were terrific Beaters even though they were playing on different sides for the pick-up game. The seemed to ignore the other players except for Harry and concentrated on knocking each other out; laughing and trading barbs the whole time. Sirius would have enjoyed having them on the Gryffindor team when he and James were Chasers.

But it was a conversation he overheard towards the end of the afternoon that caught his attention.

"… and it was really great the way Smyth was able to hold out in goal even with the broken rib! That must have really hurt but his blocked shot percentage was actually higher than any other point in the game!"

The young Weasley boy was talking animatedly to a tall, distinguished looking man with salt and pepper hair with tanned, wind-burnt skin. The man looked impressed with the Third year's knowledge.

"I was not sure anyone else noticed that," the man commented. "It's not part of the released numbers. It's not unheard of. Sometimes injured players of a certain calibre determined to tough it out actually step up their game. The league actually looked into if it was use of accidental magic but then they saw it was true in Muggle sports as well."

The Weasly boy looked surprised at the explanation. "Do you track Muggle sports?" he asked curiously.

The man laughed. "Well, Quidditch will always be my favourite but I've been known to catch the odd football match now and then. But Muggles have put a lot more resources into studying human motion, physical improvement and rehabilitating injured athletes then we wizards have. Sure we can heal them faster, but getting the body back into peck performance is something else. And even more importantly is training them to move right so they don't get hurt in the first place. Muggles have a lot to teach us."

The boy looked even more surprised. The man seemed to notice it as well.

"Surprised to hear one of us 'dark, evil, Syltherins talking about Muggles this way?" the man asked with some amusement in his eyes. The boy blushed so much Sirius thought he might pop a blood vessel.

"I… I'm sorry, Coach Steven. It's just … it's just … all I've heard growing up was bad things about the Slytherins. And some of it was true! Malfoy is a spoilt git and his little band of followers just make trouble for everyone else. And their Quiditch team just plays dirty! But- but." The boy seemed to wind down. There was a pause and then he sighed. "But Daphne, Tracey, and Blaise don't seem to be like that. I know Daphne was the one that made the potion we used to help Scabbers when he was sick last year even though no one told me."

"Scabbers?"

"He's my pet rat. My brother Percy found'em when he was little. He was missing a toe on his forepaw and it was still scabbed over. So he named him Scabbers. I got him after Percy got an owl for making Prefect his Fourth year; my First. He mostly sleeps all day but he was sick last year and they gave me a potion to heal him up."

The man chuckled at the story. "So, what are you going to do about my daughter and her friends?"

The Weasley boy looked down in embarrassment. "Dad told me to apologize," he almost mumbled. "I tried – but I just can't."

To his credit, the man merely nodded solemnly although the boy couldn't see it. Sirius could see there was amusement in his eyes. "I see. Maybe a note if you can't say the words aloud? I am sure my daughter would appreciate it. You know she was the only other person outside my staff to comment to me about Smyth's performance after his injury? I think she would enjoy having someone to argue Quidditch with."

The conversation continued but Sirius stopped listening. A rat missing a forepaw toe that lived for at least ten years? Common rats didn't live that long even in the magical world. And the Weasley's fit the profile of being a place no one would look for a Death Eater. A family famous for its support of Dumbledore and the Light? A family notorious in Pureblood circles for being blood traitors and Arthur's obsession with Muggle technology? No. No one on either side would look for the little rat there. Nor would they look in Gryffindor tower for an animagus that is supposed to be dead.

Sirius knew the wards at the Burrow would alert the Weasley's if he went there. He was sure Arthur revoked his access from the wards after his escape if not before. Dobby, like all house-elves, was prevented from accessing another family's home unless called for from within the wards. That left just one option.

Padfoot was going back to Hogwarts.

-IX-

29 October 1993

The large black dog was making his way through the dark Hogwarts grounds. The only light was coming from the school's windows. The full moon was in a few days but a layer of clouds blocked most of the moon's light. Padfoot was being careful not to be seen. He didn't want to alert anyone that he was on the school grounds. If Wormtail caught word that a large, black, Grim-like dog was spotted on the grounds he'd probably do a runner. And then he'd have to start all over again tracking him down.

The dog animagus was moving along the side of Greenhouse #4 when the werewolf came around the greenhouse corner. The creature was massive and much more wolf-like than any werewolf he'd ever seen. Danger and power seemed to radiate from the creature and it sent Padfoot's hackles up. This thing was dangerous.

The werewolf made a show of covering its eyes with one massive clawed hand. It raised its other and started to slowly bring in the thumb. When it started on its pinkie, Padfoot suddenly realized, 'Oh crap, its counting down!'

The large black dog shot off across the field as fast as it could go. Seconds later it could hear the werewolf sprinting after it. He started running a wild evasion pattern trying to lose the creature. No one knew the hidden paths and obstacles of Hogwarts like the Marauders. But the creature seemed to know them all also.

Then it caught him.

The massive claw reached out and smacked the Grim-looking dog on the flank. Padfoot yelped in shock and lost his footing. The dog tumbled to the ground but quickly jumped up expecting an attack.

Instead he saw the werewolf sitting on its haunches thirty feet away, its tongue lolling out in amusement. Padfoot panted for breath as his brain tried to catch up. Finally, he realized, 'The damn werewolf is playing with me!'

It turned to leave and looked back as if to say, "Your turn." Then it took off in a ground eating lope. The large dog barked a laugh and started out after creature.

**A/N: And that takes us up to the events of the first chapter. Six extra chapters for what was supposed to be a one-shot. The next chapter, Tournament Follies, starts with the conclusion of the first chapter. **


	8. Quidditch Hooligans

**AN: This chapter starts the first of the parts following the end of chapter 1. It is the summer before Harry's Fourth year. Originally, this chapter was going to include the start of GoF up to Halloween but it seemed like a good place to split the chapter.**

**I know there has been a lot of talk about FFN's (re)newed policies and the forced return of unsigned reviews. I can't say I've seen a wave of flaming reviews and to date haven't deleted one. However, it is frustrating when some reviews can't be responded to when they ask a question or raise a point.**

**I did have one anonymous reviewer inform me they were dropping Weres Harry because I was shipping Harry/Padma. I don't 'ship' 12-13 year-olds. When I was that age we had 'couples' start on Thursday and end by Monday. And those were the long relationships. My kids tell me that hasn't changed. Harry may date one or several people. This is not a romance story. Harry's love life will always be a background issue.**

**I'd like to thank the members of my Yahoo group that read through the draft and submitted their corrections and suggestions. Many thanks for helping to improve this story.**

**Quidditch Hooligans**

22 August 1994

_By the prinking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes._

The famous quote was delivered in Shakespeare's Macbeth by a witch and came from ancient Roman superstitions. The Romans didn't talk about feeling the hairs on the back of their neck raise when they sensed danger. Instead they spoke of prickling sensations on their thumbs as a harbinger of danger. This stayed with many of old magical families able to trace their lineage back to before the split between the magical and mundane world.

The three old witches sat around their fire happily gossiping about events that happened long ago in low voices broken occasionally by the loud cackling laugh. An iron pot supported by a wrought iron tripod hung over the fire and an odd green stew bubbled merrily inside. None of the witches cared in the least that they perfectly reflected a Muggle's view of stereotypical witches.

As one they suddenly stopped talking. They turned to face a small clearing not too far from their spot. Hands moving to wands as the three prepared to face a great danger.

An instant later, two men and a teenage boy appeared in the spot. One man was well-groomed with a tight goatee and close-cut black hair streaked with some white at the temples. He also wore expensive looking silk robes. The boy wore similar robes but his black hair was messy and defiant. The boy's eyes were a beautiful green shade but they could sense a power there waiting to be unleashed. The second man looked a bit worn as did his robes but he seemed cheerful as he pointed the other two towards the Ministry personal registering new arrivals. It did not escape the witches that the rumpled but cheerful wizard was also a werewolf.

The boy glanced over at the three witches and smiled. It was not a hostile or condescending smile. It was amused, excited, and more than a bit mischievous.

When the three had passed out of sight the witches turned to each other.

"Should we leave sisters?" one asked.

"It will be dangerous to remain," the second commented.

"I didn't sense evil from them," the third allowed. "The boy is a keystone."

"Should we ward our site and observe then?" the first suggested.

"By the prinking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes," the second witch cackled. Seeing the odd looks from her friends she said defensively, "What? It's tradition!"

"Right," the third replied. "You two start the wards. I'll go get us some more Firewhiskey. If we are going to have to watch this, we might as well enjoy it."

-I-

Harry was having his best summer ever. Since entering the Wizarding World, Harry spent almost no time with the Dursleys. The summer after his first year had been spent primarily with Ernie's family with only a few weeks with the Dursleys. His second summer he never even saw his 'family' as he bounced from Ernie's, to Ron's, and to Neville's houses. But this summer blew them all away.

Sirius bought a townhouse in the Holland Park area of London. The old dog bought the house and then promptly seduced the attractive estate agent to 'break-in' his new place he dubbed the Marauder's Den. The former prisoner collected a sizable payment from the Ministry to settle his claims for false imprisonment as he never had a trial. He also learned he also had complete control over the Black family estate. His mother had burnt him off the family tree before his Sixth year, but his father never completed the formal act of disinheriting him. A letter left in the vault from his father said the while the Black family supported the Dark Lord it was not a bad thing to have a member on the Light side in case the Dark Lord failed so that the family continued. The elder Mr Black died shortly after his only surviving son's arrest. Sirius's mother only died after Harry had started Hogwarts but lacked the authority to block Sirius's inheritance. While Magical Britain was sure of her son's guilt, Walburga knew her disappointing eldest son would never serve the Dark Lord or turn on "that Blood Traitor Potter and his Mudblood whore". Sirius suspected the old witch actually bribed Ministry officials to ensure his lack of trial never became known. However, with Walburga's death and Sirius's exoneration, the full Black inheritance was his. Sirius swore never to live in the old Black property again He planned on clearing the house out after Harry left for school before selling it to Muggles.

Harry loved being in the middle of London. There was always something going on. The three Marauders enjoyed exploring it all. There were museums, embassies, shops, theatres and all sorts of other places to see. Harry actually got to watch a film crew in production not far from his new house. He loved it when he was pulled in as an extra during a scene. He just had to sit at a table drinking tea while the scene was filmed. The young starlet in the film was just a bit older than he was and very easy on the eyes. And Kensington Park itself was great fun for a faux-werewolf at night. In fact, Harry's only complaint was his godfather was attempting to make up for his time in Azkaban when the single ladies of Britain were 'deprived' of his company in a single summer.

Thank Merlin Remus was around to cast the Silencing Charms or Mr Jack would have run away to the nearest forest.

"Any of your friends coming to the Cup?" Remus asked Harry as they made their way across the campgrounds.

"I know Seamus is here with Ireland playing," Harry answered. "Ron's father couldn't afford tickets and Neville's grandmother didn't want to 'mingle with the common folk'. Ernie and Susan are supposed to be here though."

"Not Padma?" Sirius slyly asked with a suggestive grin. Harry ignored the grin and frowned. His relationship with his 'girlfriend' of a year was an innocent thing- mostly handholding on Hogsmeade trips with the occasional hugs or kisses on the cheek thrown in. The girls gushed at the 'romance' while his mates took the mickey out of him every chance they got.

"No, she and Parvati aren't back from her grandparents in India. Her last letter said they wouldn't be back until just before school started."

"Our tent should be just ahead," Remus announced changing the subject. "Dobby set it up last week when the sites first opened up. Harry smiled at the mention of his elf friend. The little free elf had decided 'Great Harry Potter,sir' needed a personal assistant. Dobby was turning out to be a God-send to the trio of bachelors but sometimes Harry found his devotion a bit … frightening.

Spotting their tent, Remus said, "The match doesn't start until tomorrow so we have the rest of today to enjoy ourselves, explore the merchant stalls, and …"

"And scout out the local talent," Sirius inserted with a suggestive grin. "Well, those of us that are legal or not grumpy old men anyway."

"You are not setting a good example for Harry," Remus commented with a frown.

Sirius looked offended. "I am setting a very good example for my godson! Prongs was almost as good as the great Padfoot in pulling in the pretty birds! Well, at least until Lily put a leash on his … neck." Remus just sighed in resignation over his Peter Pan-like friend.

"Don't worry, Moony," Harry said as he patted the older man on the shoulder comfortingly. "I'm sure Padfoot will be on his best behaviour."

"And what makes you think a ridiculous thing like that, prongslet?" Sirius challenged.

Harry gave a particularly wolf-like smile. "Because Mr Moony, if Mr Padfoot wakes Mr Jack up again with his antics, then Mr Jack will provide some antics of his own."

Sirius grinned in return. "Little wizard thinks he's up to a prank war with the great Padfoot? Challenge accepted. Now if you'll excuse me, I feel I must go scout the territory so to speak." The former prisoner gave a little wave and disappeared into the crowd.

"Not that I doubt your ability, Harry, but that wasn't the best thing to do."

Harry grinned at the werewolf. "He was going to do it anyway, Remus. But now he is off 'scouting' and won't come back until he finds his partner for the night. That gives me plenty of time to prepare a proper welcome for them both and he'll be too drunk and distracted to think of looking when he comes back."

The older wizard looked at the just turned 14-year-old with a surprised smile. "You sure you're not in Slytherin?"

-II-

The Quidditch World Cup was awesome!

The players on both teams really put on a show for the crowd. The Bulgarian and Irish fans rattled the stands in their excitement as their teams battled for the Cup. Ireland winning but with Bulgaria's Seeker Krum catching the Snitch had the stands rocking with excited Irish and outraged Bulgarian fans. And Harry had a great view of the whole contest.

Sirius declined Fudge's offer of the Minister's Box and got seats almost directly opposite but much lower to the ground. In fact, the seats were directly behind the Bulgarian team's box. Sirius somehow got the attention of one of the Veela cheerleaders and spent most of his time flirting with the gorgeous woman. Harry doubted anyone sitting in his area except for him would ever remember much of the match. But Harry would remember it for the brilliant flying both teams displayed. As a Seeker himself, Harry concentrated on the tactics and skills the Seekers demonstrated promising he would develop those skills for use in his own matches.

The crowd filtered out of the stands still charged up from the match. For a championship match it hadn't run that long, only two hours. So the crowd had lots of energy left. The fairgrounds area outside the stands was filled with people eating and drinking in either celebration or in mourning. The three Marauders were joined by Sirius's new friend named Kalina. Since she still wore her cheerleading outfit the Veela was attracting a lot of attention hanging on Sirius's arm.

Harry wouldn't bet on which one was enjoying the attention more.

Eventually, the crowd wore itself out. Stomachs filled with rich food and even richer beer settled many of them right to sleep wherever they happened to be at the time. The rest of the crowd that was still on their feet were swaying in time to whatever music was in their heads. Most of them seemed to be following a not-quite-straight path to their tents.

"Harry, I am going to escort the beautiful Ms Kalina to her tent," Sirius started with the careful pronunciation of the completely potted. "I shall see you and Remus at our tent shortly." Harry glanced at his former professor that had drunk almost as much as his godfather.

"Sure, Sirius. I'll just send Dobby out later to drag you back after you pass out somewhere in a puddle." This drew a giggle out of Kalina. Either she hadn't drunk as much or Veela had a natural alcohol tolerance but she was the only one around besides Harry himself that wasn't totally drunk. Harry suspected Padfoot had met his match. Some of the things the woman had been whispering into the older Marauder's ear was making Padfoot blush!

"You're cute!" she proclaimed in a sexy eastern European accent. "Don't worry. I shall take good care of this one."

"That's what I'm afraid of." More giggles.

After the two swayed off together, Harry managed to get Moony up out of his chair.

-III-

Getting an inebriated werewolf through crowds of equally drunken revellers was not any easy task for a fourteen year-old – even one that was a werewolf-animagus.

The tent city that had grown around the Quidditch stadium was divided into 'villages'. One village was designated for Irish guests while another was set aside for the Bulgarian guests. There was also a village for families and another for the VIP's (i.e. high-society Purebloods and foreign dignitaries). Sirius refused to be with the 'stodgy matrons' or the 'poncy gits'. Their tent was dead in the centre of the 'general public' village. In general it was younger magicals without children and the working class of the magical world. The place was a madhouse of drunken revellers, screams, and laughter.

Harry got Remus squared away on his bed. The older wizard was out for the night. Harry wandered outside the tent and sat in a camp chair Dobby had provided for the Marauders. The party seemed to be winding down for the night. The noise level was way down as people started wandering off for bed; their own or someone else's. Harry was enjoying the anonymity of the crowd. No one realized the teen sitting outside the tent nursing a butterbeer was THE Harry Potter. They were too caught up in their own excitement and parties to pay that much attention to Harry.

There were only a dozen or so people in sight when it started. At first it was just an increase in the noise coming from another part of the campground. It took Harry several minutes to realize there was something about these screams.

These weren't the screams of laughter and parties he'd been hearing all night. These were screams of terror.

The revellers around Harry, the more sober ones at least, also recognized there was a problem. A few tried to Apparate away but found there were wards in place. This caused the first signs of panic in the area. Some tried to grab their drunken mates to flee on foot. Others tried to find hiding places inside the tents. One grizzled old wizard was physically throwing his friends into his tent two sites down and across the 'street'. He then stepped inside, gave Harry a small nod, and closed the tent flap. No sooner had the flap been zipped and the whole tent disappeared to be replaced by an old stump surrounded by some largish rocks.

Harry didn't have time to think about the old wizard's actions. Through the opening left by the disappeared tent, Harry saw flashes of light just a few rows over. Twenty seconds later a mob of screaming, panicked people came running down the village 'street'. Blinded by their panic and probable intoxication, the witches and wizards never even thought of defending themselves with their own wands. The only thought to get through their alcoholic haze was to run away.

Harry froze for a moment. Sirius was still out there and Remus was passed out in the tent. As an underage wizard Harry wasn't supposed to even be carrying his wand over the summer. Sirius said that was stupid and to keep it on him at all times. But only use it in an absolute emergency. That emergency was getting closer but it wasn't here yet.

Harry opened the tent door and left it looking like someone had run out in a panic. He knocked over the camp chairs and small table to add to the image. Finally, he placed his father's Cloak over the sleeping form of Remus Lupin.

Leaving the tent, Harry climbed up the small oak tree next to the tent. Dobby picked this site as the tree provided some shade to the tent. Now its leaves could serve a different purpose. While it lacked mobility options, it gave him good visibility and not a likely target for curses. It was also the best he could come up with in the time he had.

In any case, he didn't have to wait long before trouble arrived.

The tent across the street erupted in fire as three figures dressed in black robes with white masks approached. Several people ran screaming from the tent only to be met with curses and hexes. Then Harry saw the same green light he'd seen the year before in the memories brought out by the dementors.

The Death Eaters stopped in front of the tent.

"It looks like to Blood-traitor coward and the Potter brat ran but check inside," one man called out. "Kill anyone you find, then burn it down." They probably wouldn't find Remus under the Cloak but the fire certainly would.

One of the wizards entered the tent while the other two stood outside keeping watch and cursing any targets that presented themselves. Screams and explosions from other parts of the campground told Harry theses three weren't alone and help wouldn't be coming soon.

A fourteen year-old wizard dropped out of the tree and a werewolf landed in his place.

Harry took the first Death Eater out on his blind side. The werewolf's wickedly sharp claws easily sliced through cloth and skin to the soft flesh beneath. The man had no time to scream before the world went dark.

Something warned the second Death Eater; an instinct maybe from the last way. But he turned to see the large, furred form destroy his partner with a single swipe in passing. In an instant the man turned his wand, casting a fast, silent offensive curse. The creature moved through the curse without pause. The next second found the Death Eater on the ground vainly trying to block the blood from escaping the gaping wound on his neck.

The Beast never slowed as it moved into the tent. The final Death Eater was in Sirius's room trying to open a trunk. He never heard the Beast enter the room. He had only a moment to think when the large hands grabbed him by the chin and the back of the head. The moment ended when he felt his head forced to turn and a sudden snap.

The squad of Aurors descended on the village with their wands drawn and on high alert. The Death Eaters apparated away when the Dark Mark appeared but they still needed to secure the campgrounds by doing an in-depth search. Eye witnesses placed at least two Death Eaters in the area and possibly more.

The discovery of three bodies in Death Eater robes lying on the ground outside a large ornate tent came as a large shock.

"Check them out," the squad leader ordered one member. "Weller, Green, on guard. Bender, Adams, check the tent."

"Snapped neck," the squad medic announced from the first body. He turned to look at the body immediately next to it. "This one has what looks like a werewolf slash to his neck but the full moon isn't for another ten days yet."

"And the third?"

The medic cast a quick charm. He looked shocked at the results. "He's still alive! Major trauma to the abdomen but some kind of nerve toxin knocked him out. Probably slowed his heart too which is why the bastard is still alive."

"And I want to keep him that way so he can answer questions," the squad leader ordered. The medic grunted before slapping a portkey on the survivor and tapping it with his wand. In a blink the suspect was transported to St Mungos.

"Boss, we have someone in here!" Adams yelled out from the tent.

The squad leader walked quickly into the tent. His two Aurors were standing outside a closed door on either side of the wall.

"What have we got here?" he ordered.

"Juvenile male. Door's barricaded and he's refusing to open it. Told him I was an Auror and offered to show him my badge." The Auror grinned a bit before adding in amusement, "He said that it and a few knuts would get me a cup of tea. Won't open until someone he trusts comes."

"Moody would love this one," Bender snickered.

The squad leader moved over to the door. "Hello in the room."

"Hello outside the room," a voice snarked back.

"I am Senior Auror Kinsley Shacklebolt. May I ask who you are?"

"Sure." Kingsley waited several moments before he realized no further reply was coming.

"Who are you?"

"Sorry, not going to tell you, but feel free to ask again." Kingsley ignored the amused snickers from his team members.

"We don't have time for this," Kingsley announced. "We have a situation here and you are required to come out now. We have two dead bodies in Death Eater robes and a third Portkeyed straight to St Mungos. I have questions that need to be answered."

"And I am perfectly capable of answering them through the door."

Kinglsey supressed a groan of frustration. "I am an officer of the Ministry. Would you accept my word that you will be safe coming out?"

"No good. I've known too many Ministry officials," the boy replied, the amusement evident in his tone.

Kingsley rolled his eyes at the cheeky answer. He was about to reply when the team medic came in and whispered into his ear. "Are you sure?" he asked in a quiet voice. The Auror simply nodded his face set in a grim line. "Okay, we need to know what happened here."

Kinglesy was turning to the locked door again to try to get the brat on the other side to open up when the notorious Sirius Black ran into the tent. "Harry?!" he yelled out. "Remus?!"

"Mr Black? Is this your tent?" Kingsley asked. The Senior Auror quickly realized that if this was Black's tent then the 'brat' on the other side of the wall was likely Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived. Great.

"Yes, it is. Where's Harry and Remus?" the former fugitive demanded. Kingsley suddenly realized exactly who was the behind the barricaded door.

The Auror pointed at the door. "I believe Mr Potter is in there."

"Sirius, it that you?" Harry yelled out.

"Are you okay, Pronglet?" Sirius demanded. "Where's Moony?"

The door opened to reveal a well-built teenaged boy with the famous Potter hair and dazzling green eyes. Kingsley hadn't attended Hogwarts so he never knew the Marauders in school. He had arrived in England not long after the You-Know-Who's fall and had seen many pictures of the Boy-Who-Lived's parents.

"Moony is fine," the boy assured his guardian. "He slept through the whole thing."

The Head of the Black family made a short, barking laugh. "I hope you got pictures."

"I was a bit busy for that, Padfoot."

Kingsley took the chance to interrupt. "And what did happen here, Mr Potter?"

The boy looked over to the Auror. "Three idiot Death Eaters decided to run around blowing stuff up. I couldn't move Remus so I forted up in here. I overheard them talking about looking for Sirius and me. I thought I was going to have to fight them magically no matter what the Underage Decree says. Then something got them first. I didn't see what it was. They were either dead or unconscious so I decided to sit tight and wait for Sirius to show up."

"That was probably wise, Mr Potter," Kingsley granted. He made a small motion to one of his men to check out the other room. The man returned a moment later to confirm a passed out wizard in an otherwise normal room.

"May I check your wand to verify you did not cast anything today?" Kingsley asked. Harry shared a glance with Sirius before handing over his wand. The Auror cast a spell on the wand. A stream of symbols started to emit from the tip.

"A couple advanced locking charms, a few flame retardant spells, and a Silencing Charm," he interpreted as Bender recorded the results. "Nothing else in the last twenty-four hours. Those are reasonable for the situation. Why the Silencing Charm though?"

The boy grinned. "Remus started to snore like a buzzsaw."

"And you wanted to prevent your attackers from finding you," Kingsley finished.

The grin widened. "That and it stopped me from smothering him with a pillow from all the noise." The assembled Aurors chuckled.

"Auror Hamilton informed me that the survivor had a diluted form of basilisk venom in his blood," the Senior Auror said to Harry. "Any ideas how it got there?" The boy looked surprised at that information. Kingsley wondered if that was the first open reaction he'd seen.

"Nothing that makes any sense," the boy answered. "I didn't really check the bodies but it didn't look like a snake could do that."

Kingsley grunted agreement. "Very well. We may have other questions later, Mr Potter." He turned to his squad. "Spread out and look for any witnesses or victims needing help. Stay with your partners. Stay alert." Four of the Aurors left while Hamilton walked over to the tent door to wait for his partner.

"Can I ask what happened to everyone else?" Harry asked. The Senior Auror grimaced.

"Apparently several people thought it would be funny to dress up in Death Eater garb and cause a riot. The campground owner and his family were abused and some tents were burnt down. They all Apparated away when someone cast the Dark Mark. Barty Crouch's elf was found unconscious nearby along with Draco Malfoy's wand. Young Mr Malfoy's wand was used to cast the spell."

"Did Malfoy cast the spell?" Harry asked curiously. He wouldn't put it past the pretentious git.

Kingsley frowned. "No, he was actually with his mother and Madam Fudge at the time the riot started. They took Madam Fudge's emergency Portkey to the Ministry _before _the spell was cast; an oath-bound alibi. Crouch gave his elf clothes for being involved somehow."

"Crouch was always one to punish before getting all the facts," Sirius sneered. Kingsley had the grace to look embarrassed.

"Yes, well, I apologize for that. Now, if you will excuse me we must continue our investigation."

The Senior Auror started to leave the tent with his partner. He had just reached the tent opening when he stopped and turned back to Harry. "Oh and by the way, Mr Potter? Just one more question."

"What?"

"Do you by any chance have six fingers on your right hand?" The black Auror threw Harry a cheeky grin of his own and walked out before Harry could respond.

Harry was stunned for a moment before throwing his arms up over his head and cheering, "Ernie and I are not alone!"

Sirius rolled his eyes at his godson's bizarre antics. While he waited for Harry to settle down a bit he cast a privacy charm to seal the tent from outside observation

"So, the in Merlin's name happened here, pup?"

Harry stopped laughing and smiled at the elder Marauder before raising an eyebrow and asked, "And how did you sober up so fast?"

"Kalina had a Sobering Potion in her tent," came the answer. "Now what happened?"

Harry told the older Marauder everything that had happened up to the point the Aurors arrived including the Beast's appearance and his brief fight with the Death Eaters.

"What was that bit about the basilisk venom?" Sirius asked.

Harry frowned as he thought about it. "Well, I doubt that Sasha or another basilisk just happened to slither by after I put the Death Eaters down. The only thing I could think of it the Beast's claws are now poisonous to some degree. You know I don't kill the animals I play 'tag' with." Sirius shared Harry's grin as they both thought of that night at Hogwarts where the Beast played tag with the large black dog he found wandering the grounds.

"Well, thank Merlin for that," Padfoot allowed. "Er, is there a chance the survivor saw the Beast?"

"I doubt it," Harry answered with a headshake. "It was probably the first one I took down and I got him from behind. He might have seen something before he passed out. I know he was unconscious when I brought out the one that came into the tent." Sirius grimaced at hearing his godson so casually talk about killing or almost killing three wizards. Harry was usually a happy, friendly, and thoughtful kid, but the wolf definitely had an impact on him. When it came to protecting his 'pack' he had a streak of brutal practicality that saw killing the enemies of the pack as being a sensible, logical decision. Wolves never killed for pleasure. They killed for food and in defence. As Harry said, the Beast never killed the animals he played tag with because he didn't need them as prey to survive.

Sirius set his concerns aside. For now he needed to get Harry and the still-unconscious Remus back to the Marauder's Den and safe.

"Okay, pup. Let's get Moony and get out of here."

-IV-

The next morning's Daily Prophet carried a screaming (literally) headline announcing the appearance of hooligans dressed as Death Eaters at the Quidditch World Cup. Minister for Magic Fudge was spinning the story as simply several drunken revellers playing a prank while under the influence of recreational potions and alcohol. He also promised to see to the full prosecution of the party responsible for the over-reaction that resulted in the death of two wizards and the serious injury of another. The dead were identified as Augustus Avery, age 68, and Barnabas Crabbe, age 37. Walter Jugson, age 39 was identified as the survivor. Jugson was being held at St Mungos in the security ward. While the Prophet did mention that all three men had been suspected of being Death Eaters or holding sympathies during the war, all of them had been cleared or found to have been under the Imperious Curse. An 'unnamed source' within the DMLE suggested that the attack may have been a misguided attempt at revenge for activities the three men had been cleared.

The fact the men were found wearing Death Eater robes and that over a hundred witnesses had seen others dressed in similar fashion did not seem to matter to the Ministry's official position. The Prophet's editorial floated the theory the other 'Death Eaters' had been the ones responsible for the assault and murder of the three wizards. The brutality of their deaths along with the presence of snake venom in their wounds pointed to- they claimed- the involvement of 'real' Death Eaters on the 'innocent' men.

Reading the articles, Harry wondered, "Do the editors sniff their ink or something? How could anyone believe this shite?" Sirius snickered at the acerbic comment. Remus however leaned back in his chair and considered Harry for a moment.

"Harry, have you ever really thought about your own story?" Remus asked. Harry lowered the paper to look at his former professor in confusion.

"What do you mean?"

Remus slipped easily into his professor mode. "With magic, almost anything is possible. It is the thing Muggleborn – and Muggle-raised – have the hardest thing adjusting to in our world. Muggles live in a scientific world of cause and effect. To an extent wand magic is the same way although focus, emotion and the caster's power has some impact on the effect different wizards can have with the same spell.

"Potions, runes, wards, and rituals increasingly move away from that 'rational' thought process. Advanced potions can be impacted by the time of the month, the sex of the potion maker, and a thousand other factors. Severus Snape is a Potions Master not because he is great at following a recipe, but because he has an instinctive grasp of the minute adjustments that have to be made to get just the result he wants."

The former professor paused and added, "Ms Granger drives Severus crazy because she seems to have that instinctive grasp to be a Potions Mistress but is too tied to her rational thought process to just let the magic work. He may not like her but he _hates_ to see potions potential so restricted." Harry was stunned at the little aside.

"Anyway, the older, more powerful the magic is, the less it conforms with rational thought. Think Harry. What if they printed the true story of your life? A 15-month old child survives an unsurvivable curse that causes a Dark Lord to be physically destroyed. That child later becomes werewolf/animagus hybrid that manages to stand off a 1,000 year-old basilisk, survive its bite, and save a young witch, all the while running about Hogwarts and playing tag with stray mutts. Would you believe that story?" Remus smiled ironically. "In some ways, you could say the wilder, more unlikely the story, the more likely it is to be true because of magic."

Harry felt a bit chagrined at Remus's comments. In truth he hoped the story was so out there that no one would believe it if something leaked.

"He's right, Harry," Sirius agreed. "After the attack on your parents, the whole wizarding world exploded into one big party. Dumbledore and the Ministry reported his death and the party started. No one hesitated to believe it was true, not even the Death Eaters. Less than three hours after the attack Lucius was at the Ministry presenting his Imperious defence. There was no body, just his robe and wand, and Dumbledore's word."

Remus rubbed his chin in thought. "It is also true that the truly powerful wizards and witches have been a bit off. The deeper magics are more an Art, not a Science. That often means they have a view of things that is off kilter from the rest of us."

"So you are saying the barmier the wizard the more powerful?" Harry asked with a grin.

"Oh, don't worry, pup," Sirius said while patting Harry on the arm. "You are definitely the most powerful 14 year-old I've ever seen." Then, with a grin, he walked out of the room.

"Thanks, Padfoot. Wait a second! Padfoot, get back here! Padfoot!"


	9. Tournament Follies

**AN: Still don't own Harry Potter. Waiting on the papers from JKR signing him over any day now.**

**Tournament Follies**

Harry looked at the Hogwarts Express with a sense of relief. The eight days since returning from the Quidditch World Cup had been very trying on the 14 year-old wizard. Remus wasn't happy learning about Harry's fight with the Death Eaters while he was passed out in the tent. The older werewolf vacillated between blaming himself for drinking too much to have been of help, yelling at Sirius for going off on his own, and concern for Harry's actions and how little impact taking a life seemed to have on him. Then the former Defence Professor's inner-Ravenclaw spoke up and Moony insisted they perform some experiments to study if the basilisk venom did come from Harry, how strong it was, and how it happened.

Their experiments revealed that four of the Beast's paws secreted out of tiny glands above each nail. At certain triggers the gland's secretions covered the nails with a weakened form of the basilisk's neurological venom. Tests on dummies showed a single paw swipe did not cause enough venom transfer to cause death but would cause temporary paralysis in most human-sized opponents.

But Moony and his experiments were not Harry's biggest trial of that last week.

No, his biggest trial was in the form of a 5'6" stunning Veela with long wavy hair that was so black it was almost blue. Kalina arrived a day after the Marauders return from the Cup claiming, "Mr Black, you owe me a round 2 for leaving so soon." Sirius almost carried her up the stairs. Harry rolled his eyes, muttered about the damage being done to his young psyche and thanked Merlin for Silencing Spells.

The next morning Harry walked into the kitchen to find Dobby making breakfast for said Veela clad in sexy bit of nothing nightdress of lace and a gauzy material that revealed a lot and teasingly hinted at the rest. She wore a robe of the same material. It was like walking into a Victoria's Secret photo shoot – except much hotter. With the competition for blood flow between his face and his groin, Harry was just glad he stayed conscious. Kalina called Harry 'cute' and started flirting with the tongue-tied teenager much to Sirius's enjoyment. It was made even worse when she realized his reaction was that of a typical teenage male, not the effect of her allure. That meant to her that teasing Harry just became a _game_.

But the real surprise was when she was there again the next morning. And the morning after that, and the morning after that. In fact, she was still there to join Remus and Sirius in taking Harry to meet the Express. None of Sirius's other flings were more than one-night stands. (Many of them were never more than one-hour stands.) So Harry and Remus were shocked when Kalina was still around on September 1st. And based on the silly happy grins both were wearing, neither planned on her leaving anytime soon.

Harry found Kalina to be a lot of fun and good to talk to (at least when she was fully dressed). He learned a lot about Veela during their talks. Veela were the offspring of wizards and nymphs. All the Veela were female. A male born to a Veela was a normal wizard, although probably very attractive looking. A female child was a Veela with the full gifts of her line not matter how many generations it had been since the original pairing. A female born to male child of a Veela did not have any of the gifts than that of a normal witch. It was only the unbroken line of mother to daughter that retained the gifts which explained why the world wasn't overrun with Veela.

It was just Harry's misfortune that Kalina had the same sense of humour as his Dogfather – low and lower.

So that last few weeks of Harry's best summer ever was filled with avoiding a misplaced Ravenclaw Defence professor intent on studying him and a sex-crazed wizard and Veela that were trying to 'initiate' every room of the house. That many sex pheromones along with studying did horrible things to a hormone-charged fourteen year-old wizard with a wolf's sense of smell. It was something of a relief to be heading off to Hogwarts again.

-I-

"Harry! It is so good to see you!" Hermione squealed as she entered the compartment Harry had claimed for them. "I have been so busy this summer! But how was it with your godfather and Professor Lupin? Did they show you a lot of new magic? What was it like living with them? Did you go to the World Cup like you talked about? Were you there when the rioters attacked? Did you…"

"Hermione! Stop it already," Harry interrupted in a loud voice.

Hermione looked a bit chagrined when she realized she'd been machine-gunning her questions without giving Harry a chance to answer.

"Sorry," she said. "It is just so much happened since the end of last year."

"Tell me about it," Harry agreed with a roll of his eyes.

"My ankle still hurts from all of those 'changes'," Ron announced from where he stood in the compartment door. Harry grinned up at one of his best mates. Ron had quickly accepted Sirius's apology for breaking the boy's ankle at the end of last year. But that didn't stop the red-head from playing up his encounter with the dangerous fugitive for all it was worth. Ron enjoyed the attention and it diverted attention away from Harry's role. It was a win-win in Harry's book.

"Oh hush, Madam Pomprey fixed it that night," Hermione responded.

"It still aches when it rains," the red-head whinged playfully.

"Wasn't that your excuse for why Ginny scored so many goals on you even though your ankle has nothing to do with flying or tending goal?" Daphne asked from behind Ron. The Slytherin witch moved past the surprised Ron to drop into the seat across from Hermione.

"Who told you that?" Ron demanded.

"That would be me," Ernie answered as he moved past Ron to sit down next to Daphne.

"You're supposed to be my mate!" Ron yelled in mock indignation. "That means backing a bloke up!"

Ernie smiled beatifically. "I am a Hufflepuff. That means we stand for fair play and honesty. I just reported the truth. It is not my fault is a dastardly and sly Slytherin twisted my words for her own nefarious purpose." Daphne giggled at the expression on Ron's face at Ernie's response.

"Eat a thesaurus this summer?" Harry asked with a grin.

"I wish. Mum made me take elocution lessons," Ernie answered with a wince.

"I for one think it is nice to hear the English language used properly and to its fullest extent," Hermione commented. "I can practically feel the average intelligence quotient in this compartment going up twenty points already."

"And here I am to do just that," Padma announced as she walked into the compartment. Her announcement was met with snarky comments all the way around as she settled in next to Harry.

Ron just shook his head and settled to sit on the floor. Daphne made room for him to lean against the bench. "You're all daft. All that readings made your brains all mushy. You need to actually get out and do something. Like, Harry, what the bloody hell happened at the World Cup?"

"And there is the epitome of a Gryffindor," Daphne signed in mock distress. "No tact. Just charge off into the face of danger."

"Harry didn't charge off to face danger," Ron responded in an offended tone. "According to the _Prophet_, he forted up in their tent." Daphne smacked him lightly across the top of his head.

"I was referring to you, twit."

The rest of the students laughed at the byplay. The group had been much relieved when Ron ended his stupid grudge against Daphne and all things Slytherin early the year before. Now he just hated most things Slytherin – like their Quidditch team, their head of house, and Draco Malfoy.

Which was entirely understandable to Harry.

-II-

The Hogwarts Express chugged its way through the English countryside. Harry and his friends were sitting in their enjoying catching up with all of their summer news when the door swung open. Harry braced for the annual Malfoy visit.

But this was worse.

Fred and George Weasley stepped dramatically into the compartment. With their hands on their hips they glared down on Harry. It was enough that his friends unconsciously shifted away in anticipation of a Weasley twins prank.

"Mr Potter…"

"it has come to our attention,"

"that you now consider yourself a Marauder."

"Oh, you have have you?" Harry answered the twins but with a glare thrown in Ron's direction.

Harry's roommate flushed. "I mentioned you were going to the World Cup with Professor Lupin. Mum said something about he was a very nice man for a werewolf. She was a bit worried though about you being bothered by people for being out in public with a known werewolf. I said you'd be fine with Moony. That's when these two went off their nut."

"Our youngest male,

"and most disappointing sibling,

"also mentioned your new guardian's home,

"being called the Marauder's Den."

Harry grinned at the glowering twins. "Yep. Padfoot wanted to call it Padfoot's Shag-a-delic Love Shack, but Moony talked him out of it." Harry pretended to consider. "His new girlfriend would have probably made him change it now anyway."

An awed look crossed the twins' faces. "You are really living with the Marauders?"

"What happened to Prongs?"

"And Wormtail?"

Harry threw Ron a questioning. 'Did you tell them about the end of last year?'

Ron shrugged and shook his head. 'Nope.'

Turning back to the twins, Harry said," My dad was Prongs. We don't talk about Wormtail anymore. He's no longer a Marauder." Shock and surprise warred on the twins faces.

"You may call me Mr. Jack." The twins narrowed their eyes at Harry's announcement.

"As the current Prank Lords of Hogwarts,

"we challenge your right to call yourself a Marauder,

"as you have no pranking credentials to speak of." This last was met with general snickering by the younger students. The twins shared a glance wondering what pranks they could have missed.

"Best prank of the year without getting expelled

"bonus for not getting caught and artistic execution,

"but no use of any assistance

"by non-Hogwarts residents!

"So you may use your little friends here."

Harry's grin widened. "Fine. And you two can keep your agreement with Peeves since he _is_ a current resident." The red-headed twins looked a bit surprised that Harry knew of their pranking agreement with the poltergeist. They nodded respectfully and left the compartment.

The door hadn't completely closed when they heard, "This is going to be so wicked! Us against the second generation of Marauders!" Harry glanced out to see the twins skipping down the corridor in excitement.

Back in the compartment, Hermione sighed. Padma asked her what the big sigh was for.

"Well, every year it seems Harry gets into some kind of trouble. Usually it is Dark Lords or escaped murderers. Now, its self-proclaimed Prank Lords. I thought maybe this year would be different."

"Don't see why," Ernie commented. "He's cursed this one is. The big fuzzy ball is a trouble magnet."

"Oi!" Harry protested. Unfortunately for Harry, the rest of his friends simply nodded agreement.

-III-

The Great Hall overflowed with energy on this September 1st. Harry's class and the ones on either side had been rather small due to the war of the time. Not many wanted to start families when Death Eaters attacked almost every night. However, the night of October 31, 1981 changed all that.

The people of magical Britain threw a party unequalled in centuries with the announcement of the fall of Voldemort. The large amounts of alcohol and recreational potions consumed probably explained why nine months later, a baby boom started. The first of these baby-boomers were born on July 29, 1982 and the boom continued to run for the next five years. Ironically, where Neville Longbottom and Harry Potter were the only magical children born on July 30th and 31st in 1980, two years later over twenty magical children were born each of those days. The incoming class Harry's Third year was seventy-five per cent larger than Harry's cohort. This year's class was half as large again as the one before it. Where Harry's cohort was forty students, there were now seventy Second years and 105 new First years waiting to be Sorted.

"Bloody hell! Look at all of the little gnomes!" Ron groaned. "It will take forever to Sort'em all! I just want to get to the feasting!"

"Easy there, Friar Tuck," Harry reassured him as they watched the First years enter behind McGonagall. "Here, I saved this from the train." He handed his red-haired friend a chocolate bar.

Ron took the candy and ripped off the wrapper. "Cheers, mate. You're a lifesaver."

Harry shrugged. "Not a problem. I think the twins left it for me to find." Dean Thomas screamed like a little girl when Ron suddenly spit out the chocolate straight into his face.

"Merlin, Harry! What are you doing giving me that? Who knows what crazy shite they did to it?!"

Harry made a play at patting his pocket before pulling out an identical candy bar. "Oh wait, this is the one the twins left. My bad." The Gryffindors started to laugh at the glare Ron was giving Harry. Harry simply smiled unrepentantly.

"Cruel, that was just cruel, that was," Ron complained. "Waste of a perfectly good piece of chocolate."

"Oh, would you two grow up," Hermione huffed. "Look, they are almost done the sorting so you two can stop playing."

Harry and Ron turned just as Dumbledore stood to give his welcoming speech. It was fairly standard until the Headmaster announced the new Defence Professor had been detained but would be joining them shortly. Not ten seconds later the huge doors to the Great Hall slammed opened and in stomped the ugliest man Harry had ever seen.

"I'm here, Dumbledore. Some wanker Dark Wizard tried to get the best of me. Had to deal with the mess," the scared man announced as he stomped up the aisle with his peg leg. The man had a large blue orb where his right eye should be. More than one student felt vaguely nauseous watching it swirl as it seemed to search the room for something. Some students noticed the orb seemed to pause several times on their most famous (or notorious) student, Harry Potter.

Dumbledore ignored the other wizard's language and simply said, "Welcome, Professor Moody. Please take your seat." The former Auror merely grunted and stomped over to the indicated chair. His blue eye seemed to be searching the chair and everyone around it for threats.

"Off his rocker, that one is," Ron whispered to Harry. "Dad had to go out last night to help the DMLE settle things when Moody destroyed his Muggle neighbour's garden. Claimed a Dark wizard attacked him then too. Supposed to be a total nutter but a great Auror."

Dumbledore was just restarting his welcome speech when the doors slammed open again. Only this time they admitted an enraged and crying caretaker.

"Who did it?! I want them DEAD! Send the little creeps off to Azkaban!" Filch screamed. He focused on Harry. "Was it you, Potter?! Trying to finish of what you started yer Second year? I'll kill you!"

"Argus!" Dumbledore shouted. "What is the meaning of this?"

"He kilt her! He did it! Wanted to finish the job 'e started!" The caretaker held out a bundle he had clutched to his chest. "He kilt Mrs Norris!" The students and much of the staff drew back in disgust at what was inside the thread-bare blanket the old man held out. Some of the students were already throwing glares in Harry's direction.

For Harry's part, he felt sad at the news of the cat's death. While Mrs Norris had a disposition to match her owners, he'd respected her as a something of an honoured opponent. The devil-cat tried to get him in trouble while the Beast played at evading her while trying to sneak up on her in turn.

"Mr Potter has been here or with his classmates since arriving on the Express, Argus," McGonagall was saying. "There is no way he, or any other, student could have done this."

Dumbledore nodded agreement. "Quite so, Professor McGonagall, quite so. Hagrid, would you please escort Mr Filch to my office? We can deal with this once the students are dismissed."

"'Course, professor. Come'on Filch. Let's get ya something to drink. The perfessor will sort this all out. Tis a shame what happened to yer friend."

"'E kilt my cat, Hagrid!" the man cried at the giant Care of Magical Creatures professor led the man out of the Great Hall. The doors shut as Hagrid was heard saying Harry wouldn't do such a thing. Harry appreciated the big man's support.

Once the students had settled, Dumbledore started his welcome for a third time. The news of the cancellation of the Quidditch season due to the newly announced Tri-Wizard Tournament was met with silent shock. Most of the students were still distracted by the death of Mrs Norris and Filch's accusation against Harry and the news that students from Durmstrang and Beauxbatons would be joining them this year.

It was a dazed student body that left the Hall that night.

-IV-

Waiting for the Durmstrang and Beauxbatons students to arrive, Harry was considering that Ernie might be right about his comment on the Express. He was cursed. It was like the old Chinese curse. "_May you live in interesting times_." Harry absently wondered if the old Muggle saying was based on a real magical curse. Might be worth having Hermione check the restricted section for it.

Because Harry was living in interesting times. Once again, at least half the school believed Harry was a murderous criminal. Only now instead of trying to kill of the Muggleborns he'd downgraded to killing a cat. Maybe he'd moved from future Dark Lord to future Purple Lord? Or Blue, maybe? Or it could be that at some level they realized he was a wolf? Cause they all had the tendency to act like sheep…

Thank Merlin for his friends. Ron and Hermione were with him in almost every class as fellow Gryffindors. Padma and Ernie were there to help when he had classes with Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff, respectively.

Aside from the core classes, Harry was taking Care of Magical Creatures and Ancient Runes this year. Remus had talked Harry into dropping Divination and tutored him on the Third year material to catch him up over the summer. Remus explained that using Runes was behind many of the Marauders more spectacular pranks much like the Weasley twins used potions. The Marauders Map was a mixture of charms and runes. As Remus was a gifted teacher and with only one student, he covered much more than just Third year Ancient Runes which was really about learning the symbols and the proper way of forming them. Remus went into how to use and charge the runes, even some basic warding and ward-breaking.

"Look Harry, here they come!" Ernie yelled enthusiastically as he pointed to where a large carriage had appeared in the sky.

The entire student body of Hogwarts watched as the beautiful carriage pulled by six glistening white pegasi rolled to a stop on the broad grassy front lawn of Hogwarts. Harry had the impression of the carriage from Disney's Cinderella.

'Wonder if someone at Beauxbatons liked to movie or if Disney was a wizard and used it as the model,' Harry considered as they watched the students starting to emerge from the carriage. It quickly became apparent the interior was greatly expanded as more and more students emerged.

"Bloody hell, guys! Look at that one over there," Ron gasped in that immature teenage male way that announced there was a female that made them act … well, like Ron starring at a roast beef dinner. The witches weren't any better. It was just their 'squee'-ing sound was much louder.

The collective drooling of the Hogwarts males was interrupted by the surfacing of the Durmstrang students in what looked like an old sailing sloop in the Black Lake.

"Bet the Giant Squid loved that thing showing up," Ron snarked only to be shushed by many of his fellow students.

Now it was the chance for the girls, and the many Quidditch crazy guys, to react with shock, awe, … and more than a little drool as Victor Krum led the Durmstrang students down the gangway of their vessel.

"You know, if we went to their school we would have had to have you leading our entrance," Ernie pointed out to Harry. Harry glared at his mate at that comment. "What?" Ernie persisted in an innocently earnest tone. "You are the only student that could get a similar reaction by their students. Certainly none of the upper years can."

"Well, I am bloody glad I am too young," Harry grunted.

Hermione smacked Harry's arm lightly. "Language, Harry! But Ernie does have a point. From the Ministry's point-of-view they would probably love to have had you in the tournament. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that Dumbledore insisted on the age rule partially to prevent exactly that. According to Hogwarts, A History, none of the previous Tri-Wizard Tournaments had the age requirement."

"But that would be wicked if Harry was in the Tournament!" Ron jumped in. "Think of the excitement if you won! That's a thousand Galleons! The average Ministry employee makes less than that in a month."

"Really?" Harry asked in a shocked tone.

"Yep!" Ron confirmed. "I heard him and Percy talking about it when Percy got hired." Harry nodded his thoughts elsewhere.

-V-

The entire population was stilled as they looked towards the Goblet of Fire to choose the first contestant of the Triwizard Tournament. Dumbledore reached forward as the first name popped out of the Goblet.

"From Durmstrang Institute, Victor Krum," the Headmaster announced. The Durmstrang students cheered their most famous student. The stoic teen simply stood up and walked out to the meeting room as they had previously been told about without acknowledging the crowd.

The instant Krum disappeared the next slip of paper appeared. "For Beauxbatons Academy of Magic, Ms Fleur Delacour!" This time many (at least the male) students joined in the cheering. Fleur acknowledged them all with a wave not all that different than a Muggle beauty queen accepting her crown.

Then it was Hogwart's turn. "For Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Cedric Diggory!" Even many of the Slytherins joined in for cheering the popular and friendly Diggory.

Dumbledore stepped forward to announce the end of the feast when yet another slip of paper appeared. Nervously, he stepped forward and took the paper.

"For Dogged Magic, Rodger Davies."

Davies stood up with a slight grin as the rest of the students and staff looked on in shock. What did this mean?

The Heads of the other schools were just winding up their protests when yet another slip of paper popped out.

"For the Boneyard, Alfonse DiGiamotto." A boy in Beauxbaton's blue stood up.

"For Howling Mad Witches, Sarah Dimitriova." A girl in Durmstrang robes stood now.

"For Loser Academy, Draco Ignatius Malfoy." Draco looked flushed at the name of the faux school but strutted up to the front anyway. Although he paused to glare at the Gryffindor table when he heard Ron comment, "Wow, he's a dim loser!"

The School Heads and the other Tournament observers were getting frustrated as the names kept coming out. Michele Desmarais of Beauxbatons (Selene Witches School) and August Penev of Durmstrang (Romulus Wizard School) joined the other seven champions in having their names called. Once Mr Penev's name was announced, the flames of the Goblet died. The adults followed the now nine champions into the crowded meeting room forgetting to dismiss the remaining students.

"I guess it's now the Tri-Triwizard Tournament," Ernie commented in the suddenly silent Hall.

-VI-

Alone in his office, the man fumed.

All of his careful planning with the Master was all for naught. Somehow their plan failed and instead of setting up Potter they got a bunch of nothings! Foreigners and half-breeds most of them!

'The Master would not be happy with this news,' the man thought glumly while taking another shot of his drink.

His thoughts fell back onto the events of the night. There might be a way yet to get Potter to the ritual site in a way that would satisfy the ritual's requirements. Old Magic was finicky.

The man smiled and took another shot as another thought occurred to him. There might be some fun to be found here after all. The wizard's grin would have scared a dementor.

"You cheated," Fred (or George) said while glaring at Harry later in the Gryffindor common room.

"You can't bring_ them_ into our prank war," George (or Fred) added. Harry merely smiled.

"By them you refer to Mr Moony and Mr Padfoot?" Harry asked. "I didn't. This was purely the work of some lone prankster." Harry paused and then grinned. "Although the Marauders may have had some input into the naming of the schools."

The twins continued to glare for a few more moments. Then they simultaneously broke into grins. "Not bad, Harrikins. It's a prank that will play all year. We might actually have to put some effort into topping you."

"Actually, I even made a profit on that prank," Harry admitted with a smirk.

"You what!" Fred, George, and, ironically, Hermione yelled in protest.

"Harry James Potter, what did you do?" Hermione demanded.

"Well, I wanted to make sure Ernie's little predication didn't come true. So, I placed my own ward line outside Dumbledore's Age Line. Any piece of paper with my name on it would be replaced with Malfoy's name. Roger Davies saw me doing it and asked what was up. He offered me 10 Galleons to improve his chances of getting picked. Then a bunch of Durmstrang students stopped me. Apparently their unofficial motto is 'if you're not cheating, you're not trying.' They all offered me 20 Galleons. I helped the French for free just to make it fair. Made 230 Galleons."

The twins looked at Harry in shock. Making money for pranks? That was their dream; to sell prank products like Zonko's. But to make money as a hired service? That was wicked!

Padma giggled from her place on the couch next to Harry. She laid her head against Harry's chest and looked up at him with wide eyes. "And how much are you going to spend on your ever-loving girlfriend? I really could use that new Arithmancy tabulator that just came out, you know," she teased.

Harry forced himself to look away from her eyes … and the cleavage exposed, before he answered, "I'm open to negotiations."

Now Padma simply laughed. "I would have gotten a full stammer and blush last spring. Sirius's new girlfriend ruined my fun."

"You're evil," Harry muttered as he grinned down at his girlfriend. "I thought Pav was the naughty one. Maybe I'm with the wrong sister. It's possible since this is the _Gryffindor_ common room."

"Oh you little beast!" Padma growled in mock outrage. She then proceeded to show Harry she knew all his vulnerabilities as she tickled unmercifully.

Harry's friends enjoyed the show as Harry begged for mercy from his unrelenting girlfriend.

The next morning during Transfiguration, Professor McGonagall handed Harry a note from Dumbledore requesting his presence for a meeting after morning classes finished. So after the next class, Potions, Harry made his way up to the Headmaster's office.

"You wanted to see me, sir?" Harry asked after being admitted.

"Yes, of course my boy. Please, have a seat. Lemon drop?"

"No thank you, sir," Harry answered.

"Ah, well," Dumbledore said with a small disappointed sigh. The old wizard leant back in his chair. "Quite a night last night. Wouldn't you say?"

Harry shrugged. "I guess."

"Hmmm. I am afraid Harry that I am going to have to enlist your assistance with the Tournament."

"Sir?" Harry asked in shock.

"You see, Harry, we were simply unprepared for _nine_ Champions. Thus, we are being forced to do a great deal of work to compensate. I am being forced to use the other professors' free time to assist with these efforts along with the professors here with our guests. As I will have little time to play host to our guests, I feel that you would be the best substitute in this role. I know you are quite up to this task." Harry felt his stomach fall at that suggestion. Dumbledore had to be kidding!

"Sir, you can't do that! I'm only a Fourth year! Why would they even listen to me?"

Dumbledore smiled and his eyes twinkled in delight. "On the contrary, I found that many of our champions already have quite a high regard for you; particularly our own Mr Davies and the entire Durmstrang contingent. Mr Diggory is quite favourable towards you as well. After all, as I believe Mr Macmillan has suggested, you are our most well-known student at Hogwarts." Dumbledore bent his head down to look out over his glasses to smile at Harry.

'Crap, he knows it was me,' Harry thought in panic.

"Shouldn't the prefects do it? It would make more sense for the Head Boy or Girl to be involved," he tried.

Dumbledore nodded as though considering. Harry felt a brief moment of relief and then Dumbledore said, "While that may be true, with the Tournament I have already added a great deal to their burden. Since two-thirds of the prefects and both Heads are facing OWLS and NEWTS this year, it would not be fair to add more to their tasks. I am sure you can understand that, Harry? However, as a Fourth year you face neither exam and as Quidditch has been cancelled for the year you possess even more free time than normal."

"Yes, sir," Harry muttered in resignation.

"Excellent!" Dumbledore said as he rose from his chair. "Well, let's get ourselves to lunch. I understand our elves have rather outdone themselves today."

Harry stood up and followed the Headmaster out and down to the Great Hall lost in his thoughts. Remus and Sirius were going to laugh themselves silly over this. They were approaching the Great Hall doors before, Dumbledore once again turned to Harry.

"One more thing, Mr Potter."

"Yes?"

"Sometime I would love to hear your theories on how our many Champions were chosen by the Goblet. Mr Crouch was most distraught over that event. Now please find your seat. I shall announce your appointment during lunch."

'Well, this bloody sucks,' Harry thought as he made his way towards the Gryffindor table where his friends sat waiting to find out what the Headmaster had to say. Harry was half way to his seat when he stopped dead in his tracks as a new thought occurred to him.

"The Headmaster just pranked me back?!"

The Headmaster announced Harry's new responsibilities at lunch. He then announced a brief meeting for all of the Champions along with the school representatives immediately after lunch. Harry wanted to groan as he felt all the eyes in the Great Hall turn to look at him after the announcement.

Harry was only slightly surprised with the looks of jealousy and suspicion being cast in his direction. He gets a punishment detail and people think it was a gift. What stupid sheep.

It was only a short time later that Dumbledore along with the other school Heads left followed by all four Heads of House. The problems started soon after.

"Couldn't stand not being in the spotlight could you, Potter?" Harry felt only slightly surprised to realize it was Theodore Nott playing Draco Malfoy's role. By the smell, he even had Malfoy's bookends in tow. It also surprised him that several other Slytherins were arrayed out behind him. Since Harry's warning to Snape at the start of Second year, the snakes had pulled in their fangs. Apparently, the Slytherins were feeling confident again.

"Go away, Nott, and take your entourage with you," Harry responded without even turning around.

"So what did you do to get this, Potter? Do some time down on your knees?" The other conversations in the Hall stopped as three schools worth of students waited with baited breath to see what happened next. While some thought Nott merely meant he begged for the position, the older students and even some of the younger students caught the innuendo.

Harry stood up slowly and stepped free of the bench of the Gryffindor table. He noted that his fellow Gryffindors were doing the same while Ernie and Padma made their way over from their respective tables. The Slytherin students responded by revealing their already drawn wands.

Harry ignored this and stepped boldly to face the weedy-looking Slytherin. "Hmm, tonight the role of Draco Malfoy will be played by a short, pathetic little bastard. Do you have a problem, Nott? Or is this just a little Slytherin power play – trying to steal lil' old Draco's position while he has other problems?"

"Ya, Potter, I got a problem," Nott sneered back. "You think you own this place and deserve special treatment. Your family has never been anything special, especially after your father decided to corrupt it with…"

Nott's words trailed off as Harry took a single step to close the gap between the two students. Harry relaxed the control he'd developed over the effect of his eyes a he glared at the boy hard.

"Do you want to finish that comment, wizard?" Harry growled out. The low sound still seemed to reach every ear in the Hall. "Finish it and I keep my promise to Snape right here, right now."

Harry's glance swept all of the students that had supported Nott. He noted Corner and several others of the "Magical Society Club" were mixed in also. "That goes for all of you too. And as the Musketeers would say, 'One for all and all for one'."

Nott couldn't resist stepping back from the power of Potter's glare. The green eyes radiated an intense power that promised a savage, unrelenting foe. Something the pampered Pureblood had never faced.

"I thought not. Now clear out of here NOW," Potter ordered.

Nott was halfway out of the Hall before he even realized it. Every one of his supporters were even closer to the door then he was. Nott decided to find another way to dethrone Malfoy then to humble Potter.

Once Nott cleared the Hall, Harry stepped onto the bench so he could be seen by all of the students. He particularly turned to face the foreign guests.

"I apologize for the poor behaviour some of our Hogwarts students exhibited here today. Please do not judge us all by a few with poor manners."

Now Harry turned to address the Hall in general, "As to Professor Dumbledore's announcement, it came as a surprise to me as well. He felt as I do not face OWLS or NEWTS or have Quidditch this year I would be a good candidate. Yes, the whole Boy-Who-Lived thing played a part in it, but I did not ask for this. If you still have a problem with that, please feel free to take it up with me later."

Harry hoped down off the bench. He nodded to his friends and walked out of the Great Hall although most people watching would have said it was much too intimidating to simply be called a walk. He was quickly followed by his small circle of close friends.

The reactions of the students left in the Great Hall varied according to their school affiliation. The remaining Hogwarts students started to talk quietly about what just happened. The Beauxbatons students were a bit shocked about the open display of power politics. Such things in France were conducted with much more subtlety, unlike these uncouth Englishmen. The Durmstrang students simply nodded to each other. Yes, this Harry Potter was one they could respect. Each of them knew exactly how they got two additional Champions. Potter showed his cunning before and now his personal power. If his magical talent matched the other two he was a wizard to truly respect.

As Harry made his way out of the Great Hall, he was too angry to make any real observations. Besides, most everyone was behind him. However, if he'd turned around, he would have been shocked to see the paled face and wide eyes of a certain Indian witch following along behind him.

**AN: So, the real breaking away from canon begins. Harry is not a Champion but will still interact with them quite a bit.**

**Thanks to txclark for his feedback on a draft of this chapter.**

**To my American readers, enjoy your long Labor Day holiday weekend! Last weekend of summer… well, unless you are like my kids and already back to school.**


	10. Tournament Furies

A/N: Sorry for the long delay. I am trying to finish up a Masters degree and this past term was rather reading and writing intensive. So the last thing I wanted to do with my free time was write. This chapter was also re-written at least three times. The chapter establishes more plot and less humour based then the previous chapters. I think the next chapter will make up for that. LOL.

**Tournament Furies **

Harry Potter was furious.

The reaction of the Hogwarts student body was infuriating. Since he arrived at the magical school he'd been both raised up and vilified. The Boy-Who-Lived was a hero of magical Britain. Harry Potter was the subject of suspicion and derision. The fact they resided in the same body made them seem schizophrenic. Did they toss a coin every morning to decide which one he would be each day?

Harry's close circle of friends watched uneasily as Harry paced back and forth in the unused classroom. They could see Harry's inner wolf straining and snarling to get out. In the end, only one had the courage to approach him.

"Harry, you need to calm down."

Padma had stepped in front of her pacing boyfriend. He came to an abrupt stop due to the surprising obstacle.

"I know you're angry, but you need to pull it back. You need to be clear headed to think about this."

Surprised, Harry jerked to a halt. "Think about what? Nott was just trying to build his position in Slytherin by doing what Malfoy couldn't – take me on."

"Bugger Nott …and Malfoy too!" Padma growled. "You said you set the ward line to replace your name with Malfoy's; that you didn't put his name in yourself." Harry was shocked to hear the vulgarity come from his girlfriend's mouth but then he focused on what she said.

"I didn't want someone to enter me in the tournament. You know that."

"Yes, Harry, but think! The fact Malfoy's name came out means someone did try to force you into the Tournament. Now you are tied into it anyway! Could Dumbledore be the one that wanted you in this bloody Tournament?"

Harry suddenly understood the fear in the Ravenclaw witch's eyes. He wrapped her into a hug. "This is just Dumbledore's way of getting back at me for the prank. He can't prove it was me so he just gives me extra work disguised as a 'host'."

Padma pushed him back a bit. "But that means you're still involved, Harry! How do we know that isn't enough for whoever planted your name in the Goblet? Even if it was just the Ministry looking for publicity they can still exploit your involvement."

"She's right, mate," Ernie commented from his chair nearby.

"Surely, Professor Dumbledore wouldn't be part of anything that would hurt Harry," Hermione protested.

Ernie shrugged, "Was it Dumbledore's idea or did someone else suggest it? I don't know either way, I just said it was a possibility. And, don't call me 'Shirley'." Hermione absently smacked the Hufflepuff in the back of his head as Harry snickered at his friend's reference. The others just ignored them out of long practice.

"In either case, I don't see a way for you to avoid it, Harry," Daphne added. "We need to keep our eyes open and watch until we can neutralize whatever their plan is and then reverse it so they learn their lesson."

"And that is?" Ron asked from his seat nearby.

Daphne smiled across the small gap between them. "Simple. You mess with us and you suffer – painfully and a very long time." Ron blanched slightly at the flat delivery coupled with the emotionless face save for a small, eager smile. But then he nodded his agreement.

The conversation continued on for a while with nothing being satisfied except someone needed Harry to be involved in the Tournament and the six would keep alert.

-I-

The next day Harry was pulled out of Potions class along with Draco Malfoy for the Wand Weighing Ceremony. The blonde ignored Harry and strutted off in the direction of the Great Hall. Harry was happy enough to have the git ignore him.

The champions were still gathering when Harry walked in a minute after Malfoy. The little ponce was already standing in a corner with a curly-blonde haired witch wearing red glasses encrusted with fake-looking jewels Harry had never seen before. While she looked nothing like his aunt, something about her expression reminded Harry forcibly of Petunia. The woman had the same pinched, false pleasant expression that Petunia got when she was gathering gossip from her 'friends'. From the scroll floating beside her with a quill taking down what Malfoy said it wasn't hard to guess she was a reporter.

'Wow,' Harry thought, 'there's a match made in Hell: Malfoy and a magical Petunia.'

Harry turned from the dreadful pair only to bump into someone.

"I'm sorry…," he started only to be interrupted.

"What are you doing here, leetle boy? This is for Champions and their sponsors only. You may leave now."

Before Harry could respond, another voice intruded, "Ah Fleur, I believe this is Harry Potter, the wizard Headmaster Dumbledore declared our 'host' for the events."

The beautiful blonde witch rolled her eyes as though praying for strength. "Oh, very well. You, boy! You shall speak to the Chef de cuisine. Last night's bouillabaisse was of very poor quality. Also I expect a decent quality and selection of Comté cheese & Vin jaune to be provided to our table before the meal.

"Are you getting this, little boy?" the witch demanded. "Or," she asked in a condescending tone, "are you unable to put up even a little resistance to my aura, tout petit?"

Harry turned to look at the person who had initially identified him to the French witch. She was a cute witch with short black hair and grey eyes. She was just a bit taller than Harry but probably a stone lighter. Her expression was crossed between amused and embarrassed at Fleur's behaviour.

"Hello, my name is Harry Potter." Harry extended his hand in greeting.

She extended her hand in response as she said, "I am Michele Desmarais. It is a pleasure to meet you, Mr Potter."

Harry took her hand and gently raised it up to lightly kiss the knuckles as Padfoot had shown him. "The pleasure is all mine, Mademoiselle Desmarais. Welcome to Hogwarts. We are blessed to have such a beautiful and promising witch to be visiting us. But please call me Harry." The French witch blushed at Harry's actions and words.

Harry glanced over to see Fleur's face flushed with embarrassment. To Ms Desmarais he said, "I appear to have angered your friend, Mlle Delacour. Perhaps her choice of wand storage placement has led to a negative impact on waste removal functions?"

While Michele Desmarais and Fleur Delacour looked confused by Harry's question, Harry heard chocked laughter coming from an older male teen dressed in Beaxbatons robes.

"And you must be M Alfonse DiGiamotto, Beaxbaton's representative from the 'Boneyard'." The wizard had light brown hair with the olive-toned skin that spoke of Italian background.

The teen wizard took Harry's offered hand with a smile. "It is a pleasure to meet you as well, Mr Potter. And I'm afraid you are correct. My cousin often has her wand shoved so far up her arse it makes her a bit constipated. Glad to have another guy around here that recognizes that too. Call me Al."

Fleur let out an indignant huff and whirled around and stalked off away from them. After a squeaked, "Excuse me," Michele followed her.

Harry grinned at the French wizard. "Call me Harry, Al. You're her cousin?"

"Mom is her aunt on her father's side. Grandfather was the French Ministry's ambassador to Italy. That is where Mom met Dad."

"But your accent is American?"

"Dad's the Italian ambassador to the American Department of Magic. I've lived in Boston since I was four. I wanted to go to Salem but Mom was afraid I was getting too 'American' so here I am."

"And how is that working out?"

The wizard laughed. "Well, I am the only guy at the school that Fleur's allure has absolutely no impact on since I'm a near enough blood relative. I am impressed you were able to throw it off. Don't judge her too bad. Fleur can be a real sweetheart with her friends and family. Being a complete bitch is just her way of dealing with the way most people react to her in public." Harry had to laugh at the older teen's blunt assessment of his cousin.

"I think I can appreciate at least a part of that," Harry responded. "I didn't know I was famous until I was about to start school. The reaction when I went shopping in Diagon Alley the first time was … disturbing."

"Hmmm," Al hummed with a mischievous grin. "Maybe we should set you up with Fleur. A wizarding power couple! The press would have a field day!" Harry was about to respond when a new and rather unpleasant voice interrupted him.

"What's this I hear? Could there be romance budding within the Tri-Wizard Tournament?" It was the reporter he saw talking to Malfoy. Up close he could see she also had three gold false teeth.

"Rita Skeeter from the Daily Prophet. Now tell me Mr Potter, did you first fall for Ms Delacour when she arrived at Hogwarts or was it just now that you awoke to her charms?"

Harry wanted to smack someone. At this point he would be happy to do it to either the nosy reporter or the chortling French-Italian wizard standing next to him.

"Miss Skeeter, M DiGiamotto was simply making a poor joke. I am currently seeing someone and am perfectly happy with that situation." Harry thought that was a good way of handling it.

Or not.

"Oh tell me Harry – who is the lucky witch to have captured your eye?"

"That is a private matter between myself and the young lady in question. Now, if you would please excuse me, I see Professor Dumbledore signalling for me. Maybe you can speak to M DiGiamotto here. He is the son and grandson of ambassadors from Italy and France."

Before either Skeeter or Al could protest, Harry slipped away into the crowd.

'Serves him right for trying to set me up,' Harry thought.

"That was clever, Harry Potter. Press should be whipped like dogs 'til they know their place," a stocky teenage wizard commented when Harry tried to slip by. Harry recognized him too.

"Congratulations on getting selected as a Champion, Mr Krum," Harry said politely. "Your play at the World Cup was brilliant."

"You saw that?" the Bulgarian wizard grunted out through his thick accent.

"My godfather got tickets. I play Seeker for Gryffindor so I was taking notes on what worked for you and Lynch."

"Lynch is excellent technical Seeker – very methodical, good flyer. Not so good at reading the Snitch or the flow of the game. Cedric Diggory tell me you best Seeker in Hogwarts. Maybe we have three way Seeker duel – keep my skills sharp since I can't practice here."

"That sounds like it would be wicked," Harry said with a grin. "My captain was devastated when our season was cancelled because of the Tournament."

Krum grunted agreement. "Our Headmaster do the same. Stupid since most of school still back home."

Krum leaned forward to Harry's ear. "We of Durmstrang respect strength and skill, Harry Potter. We have seen and respect your strength of mind and will. We very curious to see if strength of magic equals them. Perhaps some time we get a chance to duel with wand too, no? Be very interesting to see."

The Bulgarian Seeker suddenly wrapped the younger wizard into a great bear hug. Then he roared out. "You I like Harry Potter! We talk again later." And then he was gone.

"I don't know Harry," Roger Davies commented as he walked up and handed Harry a mug of butterbeer. "You seem to have a love-hate relationship going with all of the other champions."

"It's all part of the Boy-Who-Lived mystique," Cedric explained to his friend as he joined them. "Every year since Harry got here has to have some bizarre events going on that no one ever really explains. We get the rumours of course but never the real story."

"What is this- pick on Harry day?" The older boys laughed.

"Well, you are the one responsible for all of this chaos," Cedric answered with a grin.

"No, it wasn't," Harry shot back. "That was this bloke's fault." He pointed at Roger. "He wanted to add extra champions."

"No, I wanted to add me, not everyone else," Roger answered. He had a smug grin as he waited for Harry's comeback.

That comeback was prevented when voices were suddenly raised near the table where Ollivander was set up for the ceremony.

"This is impossible! My son is too young to participate in this Tournament. He should be excused immediately!" Harry didn't even need to turn around to realize it was Lucius Malfoy.

"He's my baby! It is too dangerous!" a new voice added. Narcissa Malfoy.

"Father! Mother! Please! I know I can do this! The Goblet would not have selected me if I didn't have the skill to compete! Please stop embarrassing me!"

"First time I've ever heard the little shite say please," Roger muttered.

Harry almost felt sorry for the Slytherin brat. In under a minute his own parents had probably destroyed their son's confidence and his position within the school and Slytherin. The fact they ran completely over Draco's protests and were still yelling at Dumbledore was making it even worse. The parallels to his aunt, uncle and cousin were a bit scary.

'Maybe being locked in my cupboard and ignoring me wasn't the _worst_ thing they could have done to me,' Harry mused.

Unaware of Harry's thoughts, Cedric said, "Yah, he's a little shite but with parents like that the brat probably never had a chance."

"The Goblet of Fire creates a magical contract, Malfoy," Crouch sneered back at Lucius Malfoy. "Your little … son can quit but his magic stays behind. Feel free to take him and go."

"Now Barty, that is not very constructive," Dumbledore admonished. "Perhaps we can take this up in the privacy of my office?"

The elder Malfoys seemed to finally realize they had become the centre of attention. Without a word they tried to draw their tattered dignity around themselves. Finally, Lucius gave a simple nod of agreement.

The rest of the wand weighing ceremony went as it was planned. It was interesting learning about by whom and with what everyone's wands were made. The revelation of Fleur's vella heritage simply confirmed what Harry strongly suspected. The fact Al's wand was made with a Sasquatch hair core was cool. Sarah Dimitriova of Durmstrang's wand had a core made from a ground megalodon tooth. The rare ancient magical shark was thought extinct by Muggles and even magicals considered them almost a myth.

"Ah. Mr Potter, I wondered if I'd see you here."

"Hello, Mr Ollivander. It's nice to see you again," Harry answered politely. The old man was creepy but for some reason Harry liked the man. Plus his knowledge of wandlore was second to none in Britain

The strange old wand maker nodded absently. "And your wand – it is still operating effectively?"

Harry drew out his holly wand at the question. "Yes, sir." He handed the wand over to the wand maker.

The old wizard looked down the wand like it was a pool cue before spinning it in his hand. "Yes, definitely one of my best creations." The man studied the wand for a few seconds.

"I see you have used this wand well, Mr Potter. Its connection to you has grown stronger since you acquired it. Such a strong connection even then. Remarkable." He handed the wand back to Harry.

"Treasure this wand, Mr Potter. As you care for it, it will surely care for you."

Harry nodded with a twinge of guilt. He'd never really thought about it. The Holly and Phoenix Feather wand was simply _his_- like his hand; a part of him. He took it for granted.

"I will," Harry assured the wand maker with a mental promise to pay more attention to his wand.

"See that you do. And I shall send you a wand holder. I don't want to hear that one of my greatest creations was broken because you sat on it."

-II-

Harry argued Quidditch and brooms with the three Durmstrang champions and Cedric the rest of the time until Dumbledore and the Malfoys returned to the room. Krum championed the broom he rode in the Quidditch World Cup, a Lithuanian model called a 'Žaibas' which translated into English was a 'Lightning'. Victor claimed the broom was much more stable on tight turns and only fractionally slower than a Firebolt in a straight run. The five agreed to spend the next Saturday flying just for fun.

The conversation came to an end when Dumbledore, the Malfoys, the other School Heads and the Ministry representatives returned to the room.

"May I have your attention?" Dumbledore called out as the room became hushed. "After discussion with my counterparts, we are deviating slightly from the previously planned order of events.

"On the 28st of November, our first task will be a test of magical strength, quick wits, and spell knowledge. We shall be holding a Magical Duelling Tournament. The champions will be divided into three groups. Each group will consist of one champion from each school chosen randomly. Each champion will duel the other two members of their group twice. The champion with the most victories from each group will then move to a final group of three champions. This round each champion will only face their opponents only once. Each win is worth 10 points while a draw is worth 5 points; giving a maximum number of points available to each champion as sixty points.

"Professor Flitwick of Hogwarts, a former International Duelling Circuit champion, and Professor Groer of Durmstang, also a former champion of the International Duelling Circuit, have agreed to honour us as of Masters of the Arena. Professor Moody of Hogwarts and Professor Davis of Beaxbatons shall serve as Masters of Wards.

"The first round will occur on the last weekend of November. The final round will occur the next Saturday. There shall be two duelling courts and it will alternate so only one duel is occurring at a time. For the final rounds, only one court shall be used."

As Dumbledore smiled at the excited faces of the nine champions, Harry could see the arrogant confidence on Draco Malfoy's face. However from long association (unwilling though it was) Harry could also see determination and some fear in those eyes.

'Probably wants to prove himself to his parents after their argument with Dumbledore,' Harry decided. Malfoy would have two chances to score points. There was little chance of Malfo making it into the final three round.

"Now, as I am sure we are all aware, we have nine Champions. We shall divide our champions into three divisions with the three Champions from each school making up one division. Each champion shall duel the other two members of their division with ten points awarded to the winner of each duel. The winner of each division will advance to the second round. Inclusion in the second round guarantees a finish in the top three no matter how many duels have been won."

A low murmuring broke out amongst the champions and assembled witnesses as Dumbledore paused a moment. Then the Headmaster's eyes settled on Harry with his customary twinkle. Harry could almost feel the shoe starting to fall.

"Mr Potter will serve us as our Master of Ceremonies and student commentator during the matches."

"You mean an excellent Ministry poster boy?" Harry muttered as he noticed the wide smiles on Crouch and Bagman's faces. He was already thinking of Padma and her reaction to the latest news. However, Cedric and the Durmstrang students snickered at Harry's comment.

"It won't be too bad, Harry," Cedric commented with a grin. "Just pretend you are Lee at one of our Quidditch matches. At least you won't have any rogue Bludgers after you."

"You Seekers- always afraid of a flying ball," August Penev commented in a mocking manner.

Victor scowled at his classmate. "August is a Beater. Can't fly too well so just hovers in one place swinging piece of wood at empty air." August sneered back but Harry could see amusement in both boys' eyes.

The mocking conversation continued as the champions with their 'host' left the ceremony room. Harry smiled but really didn't take part. He really felt the need to get out of the castle and let the Beast run free through the forest.

It had nothing to do with wanting to avoid Padma a wee bit longer.

28 November 1994

If Harry thought Padma wouldn't take his inclusion in the duelling contest, even as the MC, well her reaction had nothing on Padfoot's. The older Marauder started by calling Dumbledore a senile, manipulative old bastard. Then he got nasty. It was quite an educational discussion for Harry.

Unfortunately, there didn't seem to be much that could be done. Bartemius Crouch was standing firm in an unholy alliance with Lucius Malfoy and Ludo Bagman. Sirius reckoned that the Ministry wanted the Boy-Who-Lived associated with the Tournament to increase its stature while Malfoy wanted a distraction from his son's participation. Between Sirius's incarceration and being the last of the Blacks, the Ancient and Noble Family of Black no longer had the sway it once did in the Wizengamot. Sure, they were 'apologetic' for the 'error' of placing him in Azkaban without even a trial but that didn't translate into a political power. The Potters never had any significant political stature and as an underage wizard, even Harry's hero status didn't any help since it was that very status that seemed to be driving the Ministry.

Instead, the Marauders announced their plan to prepare Harry to perform an MC's job properly. Or didn't so much announce as simply claim Harry's Sundays and his time from 5-7 every weekday morning. When Harry complained about the lost sleep, Sirius countered that he was missing something even better to be there so Harry could just deal with it.

Dumbledore authorized the Marauder's visits to the castle for what Sirius referred to as "showmanship" training. However, neither Marauder felt it important to mention what they considered showmanship training to be.

Their training was a combination of three skills. The first was simply to understand the standard student duelling rules as sanctioned by the ICW. To this end they had Harry study the rules and watch memories of several matches seen by themselves, and Professor Flitwick with the Charms master on hand to provide critique and commentary. Harry enjoyed listening to the small professor cheerfully deliver brutal critiques to both himself and his opponents in various duels.

The second part was the most uncomfortable for Harry – public speaking. Harry was never comfortable in front of crowds. Having to speak intelligently in front of three school and the other visitors was not a happy thought for Harry.

But it was the third item that they spent the most time on. Remus and Sirius decided that if he had to speak on it then he should know it. They ran him through exercises and duels until he thought he would drop. Then they taught him how to fight.

Harry was is in the top five students in his class and regularly scored well above his classmates in Defence class. Although many of the darker Slytherins and their allies would argue his scores as favouritism, most simply recognized Harry as being the most gifted Defence student in the current student body. So Harry felt rather confident that he would be able to do well in their training.

Big mistake.

What Harry forgot was Sirius and Remus along with his parents fought the Death Eaters on numerous occasions. For all that they were only a few years out of Hogwarts, the Marauders and Lily were potent fighters against the Voldemort's forces. In addition, Sirius received the training required of the scion of the Black Family. That gave the dog animagus a large variety of decidedly grey spells to choose from in a fight. Remus, as the scholar of the Marauders, was also well-read with a deep if not as dangerous spell selection. However, he also had the strength and endurance of a werewolf to counter Harry's own natural advantages.

Harry found that the sessions were enjoyable and he was learning a lot. By the time the First Task came around, Harry was disappointed to be ending the duelling sessions with the Marauders.

-III-

The Quidditch stands were used for the First Task due to the large number of people that wanted to attend. The duelling platforms were set up on the pitch and the stands were expanded to handle the greater numbers. It wasn't nearly as large as the Quidditch stands for the World Cup, but it was still rather impressive. Professor Flitwick also placed a dome over the arena that blocked the wind and kept the area comfortable enough that no one would freeze in the cold December Scottish day.

To Harry's combined relief and irritation, the two commentators from the Wizarding Wireless mostly ignored Harry's presence during the matches. They only asked him questions between matches and then it was mostly about how the students felt about the Tournament.

For his part, Harry was just glad not to be in the Tournament. The Durmstang students were ruthless in their fighting style. It was very similar to the Black style Sirius used but rougher, not as refined. The Beauxbaton students went for polished and graceful displays of power. If Durmstrang was a battle axe, Beauxbatons was a rapier.

The three Hogwarts students didn't really have a 'style' to speak of. Cedric and Roger were rather flexible with a good range of spells but did not seem to have any underlying strategy in their approach. Their tactics were reactionary and only dealt with the immediate threats of their opponent. Harry wondered if it was because of the revolving door of Defence professor Hogwarts had experienced. Harry suspected the Hogwarts champions had received some training over the past few weeks from Professor Moody much as Harry had from the Marauders.

As to Malfoy, Harry almost felt sorry for the brat.

Almost

-IV-

It was the fifth match of the Task when Draco Malfoy first appeared in the stadium.

"Ah, I see our next participant, Draco Malfoy, now approaching the platform," commented William Blowhard, one of the commentators.

"Yes, it is," confirmed his co-commentator Shelia Gale. "He looks very smart and confident in those fitted duelling robes. I understand the young Mr Malfoy is considered the top Defence student in the lower half of the current Hogwarts students. He'll need that to hold his own considering the skill levels already seen in the previous matches."

Harry was laughing inside at the comment about Malfoy's Defence scores so he missed the question at first. The pair of commentators had for the most part ignored Harry's presence since the duels started (and he was just as happy with that), so he was a bit surprised when they turned to him and asked his opinion.

"Excuse me?" Harry responded in surprise.

"Come now, Mr Potter," Shelia smiled condescendingly. "You are in the same year as Mr Malfoy. Surely you have some insight into his prowess with a wand."

With a sincere smile he learnt from Sirius, Harry answered, "Well, I will say I've seen Draco Malfoy do things with a wand I've never seen another student duplicate. He obviously takes after his father's magical talent."

"Well said, Mr Potter," William stated with an approving nod. The pair then moved on to other comments once again ignoring Harry.

Cedric and Roger were the first champions to duel. They put on a nice display of power and talent. Cedric pulled out the win and the two English commentators were prolific with their positive comments for both champions.

Then it was Durmstrang's turn. Sarah Dimitriova fought August Penev in a quick brutal display. Their spells were powerful, silent, and nasty. Harry recognized many of the spells from the books Sirius provided from the Black family library as being barely legal in most parts of the world. Penev was eventually flung from the duelling platform with a smashed knee. The commentators were now rather negative on the poor sportsmanship of the Durmstrang duelists' spells. No one asked Harry but he rather doubted Roger or Cedric would have been able to defend against many of the spells.

The Beauxbatons duel was a rapier to the Durmstrang hammer. It was graceful, almost a dance, with a skill neither of the other two schools had evinced so far. Fleur won by forcing Michele Desmarais to surrender her wand. Now the commentators slyly suggested either Michele was a coward or taking a dive for the part-human Fleur.

Then Krum came out to defeat Sarah Dimitriova with only two spells. If her spells were powerful in the first fight, Krum must have thrown a good chunk of his magical core into his spells. Even the commentators were stunned as they expected the Seeker to go for grace and skill over power. Harry thought it was like watching the Death Star taking out Alderaan.

Now, it was Draco and Roger's turn on the platform.

Draco strutted up to the platform to the approving murmurs of the commentators. Harry wondered if Malfoy Sr. owned the Wizarding Wireless or if these two were simply natural suck-ups. Roger came out determined to make up for the near run he'd had in his first fight. Harry thought he looked ready to rip Malfoy a new arsehole. Harry grinned. This could be fun.

The fight was everything Harry could have wanted. Malfoy started out well but the spells were somewhat … questionable in nature. This seemed to infuriate Roger. The Ravenclaw Seventh year then seemed to give the Slytherin boy a lesson in duelling etiquette. Harry felt like clapping at the display.

"Roger just performed an excellent riverso manoeuvre that almost allowed him to perform a manual seizure of Malfoy's wand," Harry commented absently. "Roger has Malfoy's measure now but he should end it quickly before Malfoy does something out of desperation that only a tyro would try." The pair of commentators stopped watching the match to stare at Harry is surprise.

"That was rather insightful, Mr Potter," William said in a surprised tone.

"Professor Flitwick was kind enough to give me a bit of training on magical duelling since this event was announced," Harry admitted in a humble tone. He didn't mention the practical training with his insane 'uncles'.

"One of the great Duelists of our time," Shelia said with a smile. "It seems our Boy-Who-Lived has made something of a duelling expert out of himself. Maybe one day you could be duelling out there." Harry resisted rolling his eyes at her. Why did magicals seem to expect so much out of the Boy-Who-Lived and then treated him as a complete toe-rag?

Malfoy lost when he lost his temper and was called out on a foul by Professor Groer. Predictably the commentators decried this as a great injustice. They still didn't shut up about it an hour later when Cedric almost launched the git into orbit with a modified Blasting Curse that was 'cushioned' to prevent real injury. The commentators still tried to make it sound like a near run thing but couldn't be too harsh as Cedric came from a Pureblooded, Ministry-connected family also.

The final round came down to Krum, Fleur, and Cedric. It quickly became apparent that the Hogwarts champion was outclassed on the duelling platform. Fleur, who managed to scrape a win against Alfonse to Harry's disappointment, made poor Cedric look as bad as Malfoy. Victor Krum was actually somewhat merciful and ended it quickly without injuring his fellow Seeker.

The final duel between Fleur and Krum was a thing of beauty to Harry.

Fleur Delacour may have been a witch with a B, but she was quick witted, fast with her wand, and incredibly skilled. Harry was impressed with the variety of spells the French witch was able to call on in an instant. She was as graceful as a dancer but moved like a martial artist, dodging more spells then she blocked. Hitting her with a spell while stopping her onslaught would be a challenge for any wizard. And more the fool they if they were also distracted by her obvious feminine charms.

Victor Krum was a Viking warrior out of old. He fought with a brutal passion. He shrugged off many of the annoying hexes and curses Fleur sent his way while sending the same over-powered spells towards the Veela witch that he sent in his first rounds. Harry was impressed with the Bulgarian's ability to keep up that level of magical output.

In the end, Fleur's grace was not sufficient to bring down Victor in the duel. In a true fight without the spell restrictions of a formal duel, maybe Fleur would have prevailed since she managed to land a surprising number of her spells on Krum. Of course in a true fight Victor would have been freed of those same restrictions.

-V-

"Well, that was certainly an excellent display of duelling prowess," Dumbledore said with a smile as he stood facing the stands of students and spectators who'd watched the duelling. "Well done to Mr Krum on his victory and, indeed, to all of our champions on their courage, skill, and determination." The Headmaster led the audience in applauding the champions.

When the applause died down, Dumbledore continued. "Next month we shall again see our champion in action. This time it will be a challenge that they will have to face the unknown; a true test of courage, skill, and wits.

"But first, we shall have the traditional Yule Ball led by our champions, sponsored by the British Ministry of Magic and hosted by our very own Boy-Who-Lived, Mr Harry Potter. Students of Fourth year and above are welcome to attend. Third years may only attend as the date of an older student. Now, I wish you good day." The old wizard walked of smiling as though he hadn't a care in the world.

"Barmy old coot," Shelia said in an aside to her partner. The two commentators left without a word to Harry although he saw them stop to wish their best to the Malfoys.

Harry had other concerns. As much as Padma and Hermione worried about his forced inclusion in the Tournament, even as a 'host', there was no way either of them were going to be willing to let him skip the Yule Ball.

That meant he was going to have to dance.

Bugger!

"Don't call me 'Shirley'" = Airplane! (1980) The late great Leslie Nielsen


	11. Yule Be Sorry!

A/N: Better late than never!

Yule Be Sorry!

21 December 1994

The witch stepped from her room wearing a tight fitting, black Prada original mini-dress. The front of the dress was classically modest with only a hint of cleavage while the back plunged down to the waistline. Sheer hose encased her long legs but when she walked an observant person could catch the occasional teasing hint of lace moving higher up the legs. Her silver court shoes accented her calves with a high heel but were incredibly, almost magically, comfortable. While most witches knew nothing of Muggle fashion, she wasn't going to limit herself in that way.

Making her way towards the Yule Ball, the witch repressed a sneer. (It wouldn't be wise due to lay the foundations for unsightly wrinkles.) She truly hated this place. It was wonderful to represent her school in the Tri-Wizard Tournament, but did it have to be in this barbaric place? The English couldn't even do that right. Now they had nine champions! And that silly little boy who was responsible for this chaos was now their 'host'!

Fleur Delacour entered the antechamber off the Entrance Hall where the champions were told to assemble with their dates. She was pleased to see her date, Roger Davies, waiting for her just inside the door with a bouquet of lavender roses in hand. The wizard may have been an Englishman barely able to handle her reined in allure, but he looked exquisite in his robes. He also had rather large hands and one never knew where the night could lead one.

Fleur was less pleased to see her cousin Alfonse standing with the Potter boy, Krum, and the other Hogwarts champion Cedric Diggory along with their dates. Diggory was with a rather attractive Asian witch while Krum was with a beautiful younger blonde girl Fleur had seen eating at the Slytherin table. Alfonse of course was with his long-time girlfriend, Claire. Potter stood with an … acceptable looking Indian girl on his arm wearing a fashionable version of a sari. The group was laughing at some sally of Alfonse's.

The Veela turned to her date just as Headmaster Dumbledore entered the room.

"May I have your attention please?" the old wizard called. He may have been an Englishman but Fleur still respected the man for his defeat of the last Dark Lord, much more than Potter who was still a mere _enfant_.

"The dignitaries and guests have assembled in the Great Hall along with your fellow students. Champions, please line up with your dates. Mr Potter, as host you shall enter last. All set? Very well, follow me."

Fleur naturally placed herself at the head of the line. As a Veela it was natural to be the centre of attention. Her grandmamma insisted that if one had to make an entrance, make it a great one. Fleur intended to do just that.

Headmaster Dumbledore led the way to the doors of the Great Hall. With a gesture of his hand the doors swung silently open. An instant later, unseen horns blew a fanfare announcing the champions' arrival.

Fleur allowed Roger to lead her into the Great Hall. Her allure was beginning to affect him badly with the skin-to-skin contact of their linked arms. The poor boy looked as though his brains were getting ready to dribble out his ear. Fortunately he was able to hold off as the couple approached their marked place at the head of the room.

That was when Fleur noticed someone she never expected to see! It was cousin Kalina! Her sister Veela lived in the Bulgarian enclave. Kalina was standing next to an older wizard that radiated a sense of danger but was smiling like a naughty little boy. He was rather handsome in that bad boy way but dressed in robes that spoke of Galleons and position. She could see why Kalina was so obviously taken with him.

The champions and their escorts moved to marked positions at the front of the Great Hall at the foot of the raised dais where the professors' table normally stood. Now it had been magically expanded to allow the staff and various dignitaries to sit. Two round tables had been set up at the foot of the dais for the champions and their dates.

The champions were to stand on their marks and wait while the school Heads spoke their welcome. By fortune of being the first champion in, Fleur and Roger stood in the far left position nearest Kalina. The Bulgarian Veela caught Felur's eye and gave a smile with a sly wink. Kalina always had the most unfortunate sense of humour however she was wonderful in stirring up the old biddies of the Sisterhood. Fleur felt so relieved to have someone here to talk to that would understand her. Her friends were nice enough but they simply didn't understand what it was to be in her position. Kalina, while not nearly as culturally refined as Fleur herself, was considered beautiful and magically gifted even by the standards within the Veela community.

Finally, the Durmstrang Headmaster finished his gloating comments and the students were released to begin finding their seats for the banquet to begin. Fleur however had other plans.

"Come," she ordered Roger. "I have someone I must speak to." With her arm still linked into the Hogwart's wizard, Roger had little choice but to follow her guidance.

"Fleur, my dear! You look ravishing!" Kalina announced as Fleur approached. The Bulgarian Veela spread her arms and stepped forward to embrace the French witch. Fleur released Roger's to respond in kind; each Veela leaning forward to bestow the lightest of kisses to the other's cheek.

"Kalina, I had no idea you would be in attendance! I knew you were part of the unit sent to support your national Quidditch team but I didn't know you had returned here!"

Kalina gave a little laugh. "In truth I haven't left and now I am rather doubting that I will." Fleur looked intrigued at that.

"Really? The great Kalina- the "Terror of Bulgaria" - has been captured by a wizard at last?" Fleur asked with a wicked teasing smile. "I seem to remember someone that said no wizard would ever claim her heart." Kalina smirked in response.

"I did say that. However, the sex was so mind-blowing that I couldn't take that chance that someone else would get a claim into him. What's a horny Veela to do?" Fleur thought she was prepared for Kalina's blunt talk. However the heat from her flaming cheeks told otherwise. Poor Roger seemed to be losing what little control he had as his attention was torn between the two Veela. Kalina's wizard on the other hand simply smiled smugly.

"I had to deal with that for the last three weeks of summer. Thank Merlin for Silencing Charms," an unwelcome new voice contributed.

Fleur turned to glare down at the Hogwarts 'host'. "You are not needed here leetle boy. Leave now."

"Fleur!" Kalina admonished. "That is no way to speak to my favourite nephew! Harry, my love, come give me a hug, you naughty boy!"

Harry gave her the claimed hug while asking, "Favourite nephew?"

Fleur was shocked to see the boy acting … normally with the other Veela. And for Kalina to claim the uncouth English boy as her nephew?

"But of course, Harry!" Kalina exclaimed with a smile. Then she turned to the older wizard and scoldingly asked, "Sirius, didn't you tell him?"

The wizard, Sirius, smiled innocently back. "I guess it slipped my mind. As you told me to do."

"Hmm, I did, didn't I?" Kalina purred back. "So, Harry, will you stand with Sirius at the wedding? The poor man may need someone to help hold him up besides Remus." Kalina pretended to ponder. "Of course Remus may need some help standing also. He was a bit shocked when we asked him to be the Best Man yesterday after all."

Fleur was stunned at Kalina's cheerful comment. Apparently the Potter boy was equally stunned as single words came from his mouth as he tried to process what he'd just been told.

"Stand? Wedding? Remus as Best Man?"

"Well, it's only fair," Kalina said with a nonchalant wave of her hand. "After all, YOU'RE going to be the godfather to my daughter so it was only right to have the other Marauder as the Best Man." Now Fleur was really stunned. The Potter boy as godfather to Kalina's child, a female child at that. A normal human wizard as godfather to a Veela?! It was unheard of!

And apparently she wasn't the only one in shock, if for different reason as Potter yelled out the first coherent thought to make it through his simple mind.

"You're ,,, you're going to let Padfoot reproduce?"

-I-

Fleur found her seat next to Roger Davies and with Victor Krum on her other side with his date, which Fleur learnt was named Tracy Davis. Potter sat beside the blonde girl with his date next to him. Rounding out their table were Kalina and her new fiancé, Sirius Black.

Kalina obviously knew Victor Krum from the casual way they welcomed each other. Fleur assumed it was from her time as a 'mascot' for the Bulgarian Quidditch team. Lord Black was talking to the Potter boy. Krum's date was chatting with Potter's about Arithmancy, which was Fleur's favourite subject. But this was the Yule Ball, not a place for a classroom discussion!

Fleur was not sure how to act. Aside from her date, Davies (who really the did not have a very strong mind to be effected by her so much), no one was paying the least attention to her. This was a situation that the French girl had no experience with.

"Are you really going to have me as godfather?" Potter was asking Lord Black. The wizard grinned back.

"Of course! Your father had me for you, now my daughter will have you. There is no one I'd trust more with her life and happiness if something happened to Kalina and I." The man paused and then his smile changed to something a bit darker and more cynical. "Just don't get thrown into Azkaban doing something stupid."

"Never happen, Padfoot," Potter assured the older wizard. "That's your shtick. I'll come up with something much better!"

Lord Black grinned at that. "That's what I'm afraid of! Trying to outdo the great Padfoot!" Then a serious expression came to the older wizard's face. "Plus, it makes you the Black regent if something happens to us and Cassi lives."

"Cassi?"

"Cassiopeia – It's a Black tradition naming after stars or constellations. Frankly, I couldn't care less but Aunt Cassi used to protect me when I was a kid and she was fun. Actually she was also your grandmother's sister."

Fleur was a bit confused by the two wizards. Both switched from almost manic good humour to deadly earnest with a disturbing stubbornness. She now recognized the name Sirius Black. How could she not? It had even been in the French newspapers with his escape, the man-hunt and then his sudden exoneration and custody of the Boy-Who-Lived, Harry Potter. She even had to write a paper on the Potters' betrayer in her Third year History of Magic class. That he would now be married to her cousin made her head hurt.

"So what's this I hear about Moody stating a duelling club?" the man Sirius asked the Potter boy. Fleur pulled herself from her musings in curiosity.

Potter was nodding. "He announced it this afternoon in his NEWT classes. He said he was so embarrassed in the poor performance of the Hogwarts champions that he was making attendance mandatory for Fifth years and NEWT Defence students. Apparently Snape made some comments that set off Moody. Then Fitch went off on how maybe reintroducing beatings on poor students would be a good idea." Fleur was repulsed at the thought of physically punishing students.

"Nice to see Fitch hasn't changed," Sirius deadpanned.

"Cedric did not do poorly," Fleur ventured into their conversation. The two wizards turned to her with very different looks. Sirius looked mildly interested while Potter looked surprised.

"Cedric shows a great deal of promise," Fleur asserted. "With some proper training he would do well in a balanced strategy." Potter looked a bit surprised at her words while Sirius nodded.

"And Mr Davies?" Sirius asked with a nod to her escort. Fleur was slightly startled as she had forgotten the boy. She turned and he was still staring at her with an adoring smile on his face. Potter chuckled making Fleur turn on him with a glare.

"What?" Potter asked innocently. "Rogers an okay bloke but I'm going to have material to take the micky out of him for months with this." Fleur continued to glare at Harry but realized the boy was not reacting to her glare as other boys did. Instead he just continued with his stupid, cocky grin! The stupid boy was as annoying as her baby sister!

What made it worse when Fleur noticed the older wizard, Sirius, grinning at her with a very similar grin of his own.

"Harry, stop teasing Fleur," Kalina admonished. "Or I shall start in on you." The Bulgarian Veela just left her threat hanging there as she smirked at the young wizard. Kalina was known in the Veela communities for her ability to destroy men that annoyed her. So Fleur knew that it was no idle threat. Yet To Fleur's surprise, Harry just laughed before turning back to Fleur.

"Actually Mlle Delacour, I agree with your assessment. Both Roger and Cedric have the capabilities and power to be good duellers, particularly Cedric. Must come from being a Seeker." The last was said with a shared grin with Victor Krum. "Your style of fighting was the most flexible and useful in a real world situation with multiple opponents. Victor's style was similar to that taught to Aurors to quickly overwhelm and capture a single opponent. Roger and Cedric had only experienced occasional classroom simulations, not an actual duel."

"And you could do better?" Fleur asked. Unlike her earlier tones, this was one of simple curiosity.

"Against you and Victor? Probably not. I've had the same crappy Defence professors that they have had. Sirius and another family friend just started teaching me to duel after Professor Dumbledore pulled me into this. But I also talked about the duels with Professor Flitwick and he agreed with my assessment of the duels."

Fleur nodded her acceptance of Harry's comments. It was actually rather similar to the comments of Professor Davis had made in her Defence class after the duels. The French Veela also noticed the proud smile on the face of Harry's date. The Indian girl noticed the glance and smile back at Fleur.

"I wanted to complement you on your dress," the younger witch commented. "Not many would be daring enough to wear a Prada original to a Wizarding dinner."

"Father would not even let me consider it," Tracey Davis said speaking for the first time since sitting down. "He calls it 'Muggle trash'. Honestly, the man has no fashion sense."

Fleur graciously accepted the compliments of the younger witches and returned them with her own compliments.

To the disappointment of the wizards, the witches' turned the conversation to a review of the fashions present at the Ball through the rest of dinner until the dancing started. Fleur suppressed a snicker when Harry took the first opportunity to escape by asking Padma to dance. Fleur decided Padma was the most sensible witch she'd met yet in Britain. Her large dark eyes sparkled with intelligence and wit. Fleur guessed she was in the top of her class in both academics and power. Maybe Potter was not the obnoxious brat she'd decided he was if he could attract a witch of Padma's calibre.

She would try to keep an open mind on it.

-II-

31 December 1994

Wizarding weddings rarely were performed in church settings save for weddings between Muggleborns. Even the Christians raised in the magical world preferred to hold outdoor weddings in groves that harkened back to the Druidic traditions of Britain. While much of Pureblood community was functionally atheist, it still used many of the traditions that survived from the Celts that first settled the island. This was a pleasant fact for the bride – as a Veela she was very comfortable in the forest setting.

A magical dome was erected over the wedding site to protect it from the Scottish winter. A layer of snow covered the forest clearing's ground and the tops of the surrounding trees. While the dome kept the grove a comfortable temperature, additional charms kept the snow from melting. Elaborate ice sculptures lined the outside of the circular clearing while an arch made of ice rose over the small flowered alter where the bride and groom would say their vows.

Fleur entered the grove accompanied by her cousin, Alfonse. Her parents were just behind her with her little sister, Gabrielle. Apolline and Gerald Delacour had planned on New Year's in the Caribbean but instead were chosen to represent the French Veela as their eldest daughter was also invited. Alfonse was asked to be her 'date' for the event because of his resistance to her Veela allure. As he was also friends with the Potter boy Alfonse would also be more comfortable at such an event than her other choices at the school.

The Delacour family was one of the oldest in France. While the Great War against the Dark Lord Grindelwald had devastated much of their financial status, it was still a name to be held in respect for its commitment to the Light and to France. Gerald Delacour had done much to restore the family's position working as an investment broker for Wizarding families looking to invest in the Muggle world. As such, the Delacours were used to interacting with the elite of the Wizarding world. But a family such as the Blacks were in a class all their own.

According to legend, the first Black arrived in England as the _Legatus_ in command of one of the first Roman Legions to be assigned to England. The Legatus' name, Atrum, translated into English as Black. Legatus Atrum led a legion heavy with Wizarding forces and was the centre of many of the Roman Army's battles with the native magical people. Atrum personally led many of the expeditions aimed at eliminating the Druids and their way of life. Eventually Atrum took a local witch to wife and started a family. When the Legatus retired from service, he and his family remained in England becoming notorious for their power and practicing magic as Dark as their name.

However, the last full member of the Black family did not match his ancient family's reputation. Fleur found him to be rather interesting for an Englishman. It was not hard to see why Kalina was so taken with him. His air of fun coupled with the Bad Boy was like a magnet. Even her mother, Apolline, commented on it.

Suddenly the music changed to signal the start of the ceremony. The small band playing on traditional Celtic instruments started a joyful march as Kalina came into view with her attendants. Normally her parents would follow next but they had both been lost on a potion ingredient expedition to central Africa that encountered a nundu. Kalina looked stunning in her wedding dress. Even Fleur felt a small tug of envy on how her cousin filled the gown.

As Kalina moved to take her position, her soon to be husband appeared with Harry Potter and a grey haired wizard Fleur had only met briefly. All three wizards looked nice in their formal robes. For a second Fleur found herself looking at Harry Potter through new eyes. She could see him aged several years. He was already large and well-muscled for his age but in her sight he was now into his full growth and maximum potential. With his dark untamed hair and stunning green eyes, he had the same devil-may-care attitude as his godfather but coupled with the power of the great mages like Dumbledore. The vision took her breath away.

As a Veela she had always looked for potential matches that could strive to be worthy of her. Now here was a younger wizard that she wondered if she could ever be worthy of standing next to. A small voice in her head said she would never be worthy of it. It was strangely humbling to the Veela teen.

-III-

Fleur found herself wandering the large hall decorated by Kalina for the Wedding Celebration. Traditionally for the Ancient and Noble Houses, these were held in the wizard's ancestral home. However, Sirius refused to do so and instead hired out a ballroom in a posh London hotel. Muggle repelling charms kept the non-magical from seeing things they shouldn't. The guests had been brought by Portkey from the ceremony to keep the magicals from wandering the hotel's halls.

A small smile crossed Fleur's lips. She wondered if Sirius or Potter had placed a magical-repelling ward up to keep the witches and wizards from wandering out to where _they_ shouldn't go. It wouldn't surprise her after all she had seen here.

The hall was filled with an amazing assortment of witches and wizards in attendance. Standing in one corner were the Pureblood society members that attended due to the importance of the Black Family. Another corner consisted of a number of Veela friends and family of the bride. In between was the wedding party itself along with Potter's friends, their parents, and the Tonks family.

Fleur was particularly impressed to meet Andromeda Tonks. Here was a Pureblood witch that rejected high society's role for women to pursue her own career as a barrister, marry the man she loved even though he was Muggle-born so completely unacceptable by society's standards, and was completely successful as a wife and mother. It undoubtedly took great courage to give up her place in society but it could be done. Fleur hoped for a private conversation with the older witch some time during the night.

"I would be offended about my date losing me so often if you weren't my cousin." Fleur turned to see Alfonso approaching with a grin. "Fortunately, I am not that much a Pureblood."

"Just when I have some hope for you, Alfonso, you turn around and display yet some more of your uncouth American manners."

"Yes, so much better to act the haughty, uptight bitch débutante that treats everyone around them as the dirt beneath their shoes."

Fleur gave a mocking sigh. "So, we all have our roles to play. Just some of us are better in those roles than others." Al gave up and started to laugh at Fleur's ironic-toned response.

"Oh well done," he congratulated her. "Sirius set up another room for the 'younger' set to have their own party without the old farts butting in." He offered her his arm. "Care to check it out with me?"

Fleur would have to admit that Kalina's wedding reception was one of the better parties she had ever attended. Not only had she been able to speak with Andromeda Tonks, but she received an invitation to use Mrs Tonks as a reference if Fleur chose to pursue her own dream of applying to Gringots as an apprentice Curse-Breaker after completing school. Mrs. Tonks also introduced her to William Weasley. She'd been thrilled to learn the older wizard was already a Curse-breaker and just returned from an assignment in Egypt.

Fleur had also danced a bit with the tall, red-haired man with a rakish, bad-boy smile and a dragon-tooth piercing his ear. While not a great dancer, the wizard had shown a high-resistance to her Veela aura. William's intelligence and quick wit were also a pleasant surprise. Fleur decided that she could work with a wizard such as William Weasley. When she informed Kalina of this the bride smirked and suggested Fleur was looking to acquire an Englishman of her own. Which was patently absurd. English wizards were just too … uncultured. (Even if William was rather impressive to look at.)

Fleur wandered into the 'kiddie room' as the Potter boy dubbed it. It was time to make her exit and it was expected for her escort to accompany her from the reception. The sight that she found made her stop in shock.

Fred and George Weasley were known to the students of Beauxbatons. The Sixth year pranksters were responsible for charming away the knickers of all the French witches as they exited their carriage one morning in November. Another morning they found them speaking in Pig Latin every time they tried to speak in French. No one could prove they were responsible so they went unpunished but it was commonly known they were responsible.

Now the pranksters were passed out on the floor with a pair of empty firewhisky bottles between them.

"Ron, go ask Tonks to come in here," Potter directed his friend. Fleur was a bit startled to realize Potter's friend and these pranksters were probably related to William in some way as they did have the same last name. She found herself hoping it was a distant relation.

"What are you going to do?" a petite red-haired girl asked Potter.

'There seems to be many redheads here in England,' Fleur thought.

"Well, I considered just handing them off to your mum," Potter answered the girl. This caused a number of the others to wince. "But I have something better in mind – it will last longer."

"What's up, little cuz?" a pink-haired witch asked as she walked in.

"Help with a prank. You up for it or is the big auror-trainee to responsible for that?"

"We need to get you away from Sirius, Harry. You are starting to sound way to much like him," the witch answered with a smirk. "What did you have in mind?"

"I'm thinking of pictures posted around Hogwarts of the twins kissing Snape on the cheeks. Then we can go from there." Fleur didn't understand as the group started to laugh until the witch mophed into the shape of the greasy Potions Master.

"A metamorphamagus," she whispered quietly in her shock. They were so incredibly rare – only a dozen or so in any generation. It amazed her the group of unique and powerful individuals that surrounded Harry Potter.

To her own surprise, Fleur found herself stepping forward. "I think some pictures of the twins in Beauxbatons uniforms would be appropriate as well." Seeing the surprised looks she was receiving, she added, "Witches' uniforms. I am quite good with clothing transfiguration."

Where the others looked even more surprised, Potter just smiled in a disturbingly predatory way.

"Welcome to the team, Fleur."

A/N: A bit of fun from Fleur's POV. The next chapter will have a bit more action as we will get to see the new Duelling Club in action.


	12. The Duelling Club

**The Duelling Club**

The Great Hall was in complete chaos.

The students returned to Hogwarts in the usual fashion at the conclusion of the winter break. The students generally had time to go to their dorms to meet up with friends that remained at the school through the break before making their way down for the start of the Returning Feast.

The chaos started after the students were all seated but before Dumbledore could start his typical speech.

A loud trumpet blew a fanfare that had the students and staff all looking about in confusion. The second the fanfare stopped, a voice boomed out from the rafters.

"STUDENTS OF HOGWARTS, DURMSTRANG, AND BEAUXBATONS, WE HAVE ONE LAST HOLIDAY PRESENT FOR YOU ALL! ON THESE COLD SCOTTISH WINTER NIGHTS YOU NEED TO KEEP YOUR SELVES ENTERTAINED. SO WE GIVE YOU THESE … THE EXPLODING SNAPE CARDS!"

In front of each student appeared a box of normal looking playing cards. Instead of the typical "Exploding Snap" card box, these proclaimed the name "Exploding Snape" and had a Wizarding picture of the Potions Master in the middle of a furious rant. That caused some chuckles and Snape to turn red. But the real laughter started when the students started to look at the cards.

The number cards looked normal aside from the replacement of the hearts, diamonds, spades, and clubs. Instead they were made of white orbs, a paw-print, a howling wolf, and a stag with a huge rack. The face cards however were completely changed.

The Jacks showed pictures of Fred and George in the process of playing pranks on people. One showed them setting the wards on the door to the Beauxbaton's carriage to banish the female students' knickers. Another had them placing catnip in the hall outside Professor McGonagall's classroom.

The Queens showed the Weasley twins in the outfits of female Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang students along with something identified by some Muggleborn as an American cheerleader. In all of the pictures the twins were smiling and waving at the camera while making teasing little gestures like flipping up their skirts to show some more of their pasty white and hairless legs.

But the ultimate were the Kings.

The first was Fred and George each leaning in to kiss the cheek of a shocked looking Severus Snape. The next showed a smiling twin with Snape running his tongue up the boy's cheek. The third had one twin standing behind a sitting Snape looking down while rubbing the Potion Master's shoulders. The problem was the only thing visible of the other twins was the back of his head that was resting in Snape's lap. Snape had this silly little grin on his face. The final picture was the three wizards leaning together with Snape in the middle, waving tiredly while smoking cheap-looking cigars.

Almost like a signature, the Ace cards showed a werewolf, a Grim, a Stag, and a final figure cloaked in darkness with only glowing green eyes really being visible.

The Great Hall broke out in laughter and talking as the students shuffled through the deck and shared their finds with their neighbours. Fred and George were flipping through the deck also and cringing with each new face card they came across. Then they looked up at the younger boy that had sat down across from them.

"Damn you Potter," one twin started.

"This was mean,"

"cruel,"

"mentally scaring,"

"and way beyond the bounds of good taste."

"Well done!"

Harry grinned at the Weasley twins. "I thought you'd enjoy them. The hard part was getting Snape to agree to the pictures." That caused the twins to pale.

"Wait…"

"That really was Snape?"

"Please say that's not true!" Harry started to laugh at their scared expressions. Harry stood to re-join his friends without relieving their fears. He was half way to his seat when a new voice was heard over the din of the Great Hall.

"POTTER!" Snape screamed. "100 points from Gryffindor and detention for a month! I know you are responsible for this!"

"Really Severus, we don't know that Mr Potter is responsible for this," protested Professor McGonagall.

"We know it was Potter!" raged Snape.

McGonagall frowned. "We know no such thing, Severus. We must investigate this to ensure that the correct culprit is punished."

"Maybe we should take this to my office after dinner?" Dumbledore suggested in a mild tone that fooled no one.

"Very well, Headmaster," Snape huffed as he sat down. "But the brat needs to be expelled this time!"

"We shall see, professor," Dumbledore answered mildly. "Perhaps, Mr Potter can join us after the feast."

"Very well, Headmaster," Snape agreed. The professor sat down with a scowl and proceeded to glare at Harry through the rest of the feast. The potion master's mood was not improved when it was discovered that the Snape cards would occasionally start to yell and insult the card players to the amusement of the students.

-I-

After dinner, Harry made his way to the Headmaster's office. He found Professor McGonagall waiting for by the stone gargoyle.

"I'm rather disappointed with you, Mr Potter. While I would not agree with Professor Snape in the Great Hall this is not the kind of thing the Weasley twins would be involved with as they are included in the prank also. This leaves you is the only remaining suspect." stated the professor. "Your disruption of the returning feast is not appreciated."

"I'm sorry you feel that way, professor," Harry said with a shrug. "We were just trying to show how all three schools could get along."

"I don't understand how you feel that this prank makes this possible, Mr Potter."

Harry grinned. "Well we had students from Hogwarts, Durmstrang, and Beauxbatons all included in creating the cards. Fleur did makeup and costumes, Al did the photography, and Victor helped insert create the cards."

"And what did Hogwarts provide?" Now Harry's grin threatened to erupt off his face.

"Why, our models of course," Harry said with a laugh. "Fred and George learned a very valuable lesson that night."

"And what lesson would that be, Mr Potter?" McGonagall asked.

"Never get drunk and pass out at the house of a Marauder," Harry said with a cheeky grin. The Transfiguration professor's lips twitched as she fought back a smile. Like his father Harry had always been a favourite of hers. As a professional teacher she knew she really shouldn't have favourites but there was something special about the Potter boys. Not that you ever tell them she found their antics amusing.

"Yes well… We still cannot have students acting disrespectful of our professors, especially in front of our foreign visitors. You will have to serve detention, Mr Potter. Now come with me. I shall do my best to get professor Snape calmed down and prevent you from getting detention through the rest of the year." The stern professor turned and led Harry up the stairs to the Headmaster's office.

-II-

The term started rather quietly after that. Harry received several detentions for the prank at the returning feast. The five detentions were assigned to Filch rather than Snape. Harry chose to see this as the lesser of two evils. He still had to clean filthy, disgusting objects for the caretaker but at least he didn't have to listen to the foul potions master say things about his father at the same time.

Having spent the summer with Sirius and Remus, Harry now knew all about the rivalry between the Marauders and Snape. The boys despised each other from the first day of their first year at Hogwarts. Both sides went way out of bounds to embarrass, injure, and humiliate the other. Where the Marauders used pranks to embarrass Snape used his potions skills and information gathered by other Slytherins in attempts to send the Marauders to the hospital wing or have them expelled. Lily Evans may have been the biggest point of contention between them but not the only one. Remus reckoned that Snape hated James and Sirius for being purebloods and "blood-traitors" while Snape was a half blood that wanted nothing more to be a pureblood and away from the Muggle world.

Yet even knowing the history and Remus is speculation didn't justify the potions professor's treatment of the non-Slytherin students particularly Harry. Blaming a boy with no conscious memory of meeting his father for that father's actions while in school himself was ridiculous. At times Harry was tempted to introduce the foul git to the Beast.

Three days after the students returned to Hogwarts, Professor Moody announced the first of the duelling club meetings. The duelling club would be divided into an upper half made up of the Fifth, Sixth and Seventh year students. The lower half would have the rest of the school. To Harry's relief, Snape would be helping the upper half while Flitwick would be working with the lower half.

With the help of the house elves Moody created a duelling area out of two unused classrooms. The wall between the rooms was removed and three platforms were installed along with bleachers and shields to protect spectators.

Harry and his friends filtered into the new duelling arena along with the rest of the lower half students. Many of the students were excited about the new club but they were all rather nervous about Professor Moody teaching the class.

"I bet old Mad-Eye has us doing something out of Auror training," Ron said in an excited voice.

"Really, Ron?" Ernie asked with a straight face. "Is that anything like the troll you assured us we would have to wrestle to get sorted back in first year?" Ron started making sounds of denial while his ears turned red with embarrassment. It didn't help when his Slytherin girlfriend noticed.

"Oh I love it when his ears go red," Daphne said as she reached up to cup Ron's ears with her hands. "It's always good for warming up my hands." The rest of the group laughed as Ron turned and tried to scowl at the pretty blonde witch. When she simply smiled back at him Ron gave it up as a bad job and shrugged.

"What is this – pick on Ron's day?" He asked.

Daphne laughed. "Yes, and tomorrow's pick on Ernie day and the next day is Harry's turn."

"And when is it your turn?"

"We girls have to deal with you knuckleheads. Isn't that enough punishment?" Padma and Hermione laughed and nodded their agreement with Daphne's statement. For a moment Ron looked like he was going to reply but instead he just sat down on the bench. Daphne took this as an admission of defeat.

"See girls, I told you he could be taught. And you thought he was a lost cause!" This brought the girls another round of laughter as Daphne settled into a seat next to Ron. The red-haired boy pretended to be mad as he turned to Harry.

"I told you all Slytherins were evil." The group started to laugh again except for Ron who winced as Daphne gave him a little jab in the side.

Ron was saved from further retaliation by Moody and Flitwick stepping out onto the stage.

"Now listen up, you lot. I told you all at the beginning of the year that I had one year to whip you all in the shape," Moody announced. "I didn't realize in just how bad a shape Hogwarts students had gotten. The performance of your so-called champions last month was abysmal! Britain once claimed the best, most powerful magical fighters in the world! Our Aurors were known and feared by criminals all over the world. I wouldn't put you waste of wands against a First year from a fourth rate school in Mongolia! "Instead of teaching the best magical students I have a squib making jokes about who really is more dangerous with a wand – a Hogwarts student or a three-year-old! My bet is on the three-year-old!"

Moody was really on a roll. It took Flitwick another five minutes to pull the Defence professor back on the topic. The Charms professor started explaining to the class about the basic rules of duelling in a civilized venue. After explaining the rules, Flitwick started explaining basic duelling exercises and strategies. The last half of the class was spent performing some exercises.

Harry found the class did not live up to the expectations he had put on it. Fred and George had talked about watching a duel between Moody and Snape. The dual had gotten progressively nastier until Flitwick ended it. Fred commented that Moody didn't look like he wanted to stop until Snape was dead. George added that it was an attitude he could live with if it meant no more potions with Snape.

Unfortunately for Harry that first class set the tone for the next few classes. It wasn't until the fourth class that the professors allow the students to start duelling with their classmates. That was when Moody decided to throw a spanner into the works.

"Potter, get up here!" Moody commanded. Harry shared an uneasy glance with Padma before standing and walking forward. Moody scowled down from the platform at Harry.

"I understand your Godfather has taught you a bit of duelling. Well congratulations! You just volunteered to be our sparring partner."

"You mean I have to spar with you?" While Remus and Sirius had given Harry some training he really didn't want to duel with the former Master Auror. While the beast gave Harry some natural advantages he really didn't want to display them in front of half the school.

Moody gave him an evil grin that made Harry really nervous. "No boy. You're going to be the target dummy while I work with all these brats."

"Professor, you can't do that!" Hermione yelled as many of the Slytherin students celebrated amongst themselves. "You can't make Harry face all of us!"

"Oh, I think I can missy. Potter here has the best practical scores in Fourth year Defence along with outside training. I'd bet on him well before that over-bred popinjay Malfoy!"

This comment brought laughter from many of the students except for Harry and Malfoy and his followers. The Slytherins were angry over the slight to their leader while Harry realized the defence professor had just painted the target Harry's chest. Every student wanting to prove they were better than the Boy-Who-Lived was going to get a chance at him now. Harry was sure the pureblood society would be first in line.

Moody turned to Harry and pointed him to a spot on the opposite side of the platform. When the former Auror came near Harry growled, "What do you think you are doing?"

The professor gave Harry and evil grin. "I've given you an opportunity, Potter. Sink or swim. You succeed and none of these little ankle-biters will ever bother you again. Fail and…" Moody gave an elegant shrug that said it all.

Harry stepped into the position Moody indicated and drew his wand. He waited while Moody called up the first students. Then he noticed professor Flitwick standing nearby.

"Oh dear, Mr Potter. I suggest you look on this as a learning experience," diminutive man said in a somewhat cheerful and supportive voice. "No one could reasonably expect you to face your entire year successfully. But I will help you out when I can't."

"Thank you, professor. But when has the Wizarding world ever been reasonable where I am concerned?" The charms master found he didn't have a response for that.

-III-

Moody called up all the fourth year Ravenclaws alphabetically to face Harry. Terry Boot was the first student Harry faced. The boy got off to spells before Harry successfully summoned Terry's wand. Next was Mandy Brocklehurst who was so nervous that she nearly dropped her wand on Moody's command to start.

Michael Corner was the first of the hard-core Magical Society Club members that Harry faced. Harry remembered Corner's support of Nott back in October. It seemed the other boy still had something to prove. For a moment Harry contemplated finding the Ravenclaw prefect on patrol one night and introducing him to the Beast.

Corner came after Harry throwing everything he could into loudly cast spells- as though the louder he shouted to spell the more powerful it would be. It was the first habit Sirius broke Harry of at the start of summer. Harry was not quite focused enough for silent spells but he did have a down to a whisper. Harry verbally cast a tickling hex and quickly followed it up with a near silent stunning spell. The tickling hex was a bright red pulse of light while the stunning spell was a darker red. Corner heard and saw the tickling curse and stood his ground expecting his shield to stop it. Unfortunately for him the following stunner was powerful enough to not only break his shield but also sent him tumbling off the duelling platform to the onlookers' general amusement.

The duels continued through the entire Ravenclaw Fourth year cohort. By the time Harry faced his girlfriend he was starting to feel a bit beat up. Harry could see the concern on Padma's face as she faced him across the platform. Ironically, she was his most challenging Ravenclaw opponent.

Next, Moody called up the Fourth year Hufflepuffs. Hannah Abbott went down quickly to Harry's wand. Susan Bones however, gave Harry a real challenge. She soon went down to a stunning spell but Harry suspected she was receiving some training from her aunt's Aurors. When it was Ernie's turn Harry could see that his mate wasn't trying his best. Moody could see it too and yelled at the fourth year for not being aggressive enough. Harry quickly scored a hit on his friend with a disarming spell.

Zacharias Smith was the last Hufflepuff student. Smith had never been a friend or supporter to Harry. A pureblood, Smith was friendly with Michael corner and many of the Slytherins. His family was not part of the elite pureblood society but from comments Ernie made Harry reckoned that the other boy wanted to be at that level. Smith was also one of the central idiots behind the rumours that Harry was 'the heir of Slytherin'.

Almost before Moody said, "Begin," Smith started firing a barrage of spells, hexes, and curses at Harry. The boy seemed determined to defeat Harry. For a moment Harry was tempted to let them. He really didn't want to be doing this and didn't need the attention from the rest of the school. He more wanted to curse Moody. But Harry also didn't want to give the git the satisfaction of beating the Boy-Who-Lived. Harry fired a wide area bludgeoning curse that threw the other boy clear off the duelling platform.

Lavender is called up as the first Gryffindor. The gossipy witch managed to dodge Harry's first two curses before a tickling hex caught her in the side. Moody wasn't impressed that she was taken out by a first year spell but Harry was actually surprised that she managed to dodge his first two spells and suspected that she was also.

Now in rapid order Harry fought Seamus, Hermione, Neville, Parvati, and Dean. By the time Ron appeared on the end of the duelling platform Harry looked like he had just run a marathon. Sweat was dripping from Harry's face from the constant dodging and the magical effort he was putting forth. While Harry wasn't using any of the really powerful spells Sirius taught him over the summer it was the cumulative effort of fighting all those duels. In fact, Harry suspected without his werewolf–animagus form and summer training he would have passed out from magical exhaustion before he finished duelling the Hufflepuffs.

Ron took one look at Harry and turned toward Moody and said, "Professor, this is nutters. You can't make Harry do this!"

"Aye, I can, laddie. Now get into position and get ready to duel."

Ron turned and looked out the platform to Harry. "Harry?"

Harry looked through his exhausted eyes at one of his best mates. He saw the question on Ron's face. Harry knew he should just turn around and walk off the platform but for some reason he felt pressed to continue on. He saw the scowl on the defence professor's face. Harry took a deep breath and forced himself to stand up into a ready position. He gave Ron a quick nod to confirm he was ready.

"Begin!" Moody called out.

Like Ernie, Ron made a half-hearted attempt at duelling Harry. The Slytherins started taunting Ron's poor performance. Harry got through Ron's shield with a stunner. Malfoy and his friends started laughing and hooting at the sight of the youngest Weasley male unconscious on the duelling platform.

"Potter, you have five minutes to rest up and then we finish this," Moody announced before stomping off the platform.

Padma, Daphne, and Hermione rushed to the platform. Hermione and Padma ran over to Harry and helped him sit on a stool Hermione conjured while Daphne woke her boyfriend. A call by Padma saw Dobby bring a glass of water for Harry to drink. Harry gulped the water down gratefully.

"This is crazy!" Hermione ranted. "Someone should go tell professor Dumbledore what is going on here. There is no way he would allow this!"

"Really?" Ernie asked in a sceptical tone. "He let Moody demonstrate all three of the Unforgivables our first week of class and cast the Imperius Curse on all of us. So his agreeing to Harry duelling all of fourth year is not really unbelievable."

"Harry, should we stop this?" Padma asked. Harry could see the concern in her eyes. Harry forced a game smile onto his face.

"One more house to go. I've come this far, I can finish," Harry said. "I can do it. Besides I really don't want Malfoy making noise about being afraid to face him." The normally calm Indian witch made a small growl of frustration with her stubborn Gryffindor boyfriend.

"Let's go, Potter," Moody called. "I want to be done with this so I can go grade some of these miserable essays you people give me."

Harry stood up from the conjured stool and made his way back to his place on the platform. The short break and water had Harry feeling like he was getting his second wind.

Millicent Bulstrode was the first Slytherin Harry was to face. On Moody's call to start Harry fired off a fast stunner and caught the large girl going through some elaborate wand movements. Crabbe was the next to come up but Malfoy's pet gorilla was not much of a magical challenge.

Tracey Davis was the first Slytherin to give Harry a real fight. Davis was not part of Malfoy circle but she was proud of her House and her heritage. Beating Potter would surely boost her standing in the House. Harry was caught a bit off guard when the petite, brunette witch gave him a real fight. He clipped her in the side with a bludgeoning curse that sent her to the platform floor with a shout of pain. A summoning spell on her wand ended the fight.

When Flitwick levitated her off the platform Harry caught her eye and gave her a respectful nod.

Greg Goyle lasted no longer than his buddy Vinny. But to the surprise of many, Daphne really made an effort to defeat Harry. She caught Harry with a tripping jinx that sent Harry to the ground for the first time. It was only Harry's firm grip on his wand that kept him from losing. Unfortunately for her, Daphne was so sure that her summoning spell would work that she was unprepared for the disarming spell that Harry returned to her.

Harry was feeling the exhaustion setting in again when Malfoy swaggered onto the platform.

"You may have impressed these losers," Malfoy sneered. "But I've been trained and fought a real duel against the champions. Put your wand down and walk away and I will be merciful. Who knows? Maybe I'll even return it to you."

For the first time in a long while Harry felt the Beast in him seize control. It was almost like his first days in the forest near Little Whining. The Beast had never liked Snape or Malfoy but now it was pushing through the control Harry had developed. A rush of power swept through Harry.

"Nott, Parkinson, Zabini, get down here and join this little ponce. All four of you against me. Right here, right now."

A chorus of voices protested Harry's challenge, chief among them Padma and Hermione. But when Harry turned his gaze on them all conversation stopped. Harry realized how close the Beast was to taking control. He had stopped wearing his glasses when he'd learnt to suppress the beast to some degree. But the magical exhaustion and the Slytherins' taunts had caused that control to slip.

Harry turned back to where his four Slytherin opponents were gathering to fight him.

"Um, Mr Potter," professor Flitwick squeaked. "The duelling code does not allow for multiple simultaneous opponents. I'm afraid the regulations won't allow this."

"That's okay, professor. At least three of these… people never follow the rules anyway."

Moody snickered. "That's what I want to see. Let's get this over with. Begin!"

What followed was a stunning display of power especially for a Fourth year student that had just fought over 20 duels with very little time between them. Parkinson and Zabini went on the defensive and protected Nott and Malfoy. The two Slytherin would be alphas each went on an immediate attack to outdo their rival by being the one to take down Potter.

Harry batted away Malfoy's magic with a shield while sidestepping Nott's. Then he took a page out of Malfoy's spell book from Second year.

"_Serpensortia!_"

Three large pythons similar to the one Harry saw at the London zoo appeared on the platform.

"_Subdue them but don't injure them_," Harry ordered the snakes. With hisses of agreement the snakes proceeded down the platform. The Slytherins tried to stop the snakes but Harry's spells were coming too fast to allow them to focus on the approaching snakes for long.

A stunning spell caught Parkinson square in her pug-like nose. The witch fell back into Zabini throwing off both defensive casters. The platform was really too narrow for four people to really fight at the same time. The jumble of Parkinson and Zabini cut down on that space even further. It left Nott and Malfoy totally dependent on their shields for defence. The arrival of the pythons added to their problems. Two of the snakes wrapped themselves around the prone witch and wizard. Zabini's panicked screams soon filled the air. The third snake attempted to wrap around Nott but was killed by a Cutting Curse.

But the snakes were enough of a distraction.

A pair of over-powered stunning spells ploughed into the two boy-wizards. A summoning spell then left Harry in possession of all four of their wands.

The duelling club was silent for a moment before breaking into cheers for the feat they had just witnessed. Harry ignored them and turned to walk away. He'd learnt something here about himself. About the Beast. He needed to think about what it meant.

The story quickly went around Hogwarts about Harry defeating all the other fourth year students. The whispers started again and it was like his second year all over again. But Harry ignored it. It took a few days for his magical reserves to be restored to the normal level. But Harry spent a great deal of that time in his Beast form in the Forbidden Forest getting back what he'd forgotten.

-IV-

11 February 1995

"Really, this is it? All we get to do for the second task is look at the lake?" Harry asked.

Harry was sitting in the announcer's booth with Ludo Bagman. The former Quidditch star had just announced the second task to the listening audience. The ministry official had just finished telling everyone in dramatic terms of the challenges facing the champions and or their hostages at the bottom of the lake.

Harry thought the whole thing was daft. And he said so. Unfortunately, the ministry official had not yet turned off the Wizarding wireless microphone and Harry's opinions went out to all of Britain to the amusement of many in the Stadium.

"Now, Mr Potter," bagman reassured Harry, "this test will be a great test for our champions. They must prove their ingenuity and courage to dive deep into the black Lake and rescue that which they will miss most."

Harry snickered. "Maybe, but for the next hour we get to sit and look at a lake."

"Yes well I'm sure it shall be very exciting."

"Maybe I can send Padma back to get my charms homework. At least then the next hour will be productive," Harry commented in a speculative voice. Bagman scowled at Harry's sarcastic comment. Then he realized that the microphone was still active and muted it in a sudden panic.

Unfortunately, Harry prediction turned out to be the more accurate.

The nine champions lined up at the side of the lake. A small dock jutted out into the water. The three headmasters stood nearby trying to support their champions. While Viktor looked bored, the rest of the champions all looked nervous about entering the Black Lake. Harry couldn't blame them. It was February after all – that water looked really cold.

Bagman gave the starting signal in the champions rushed to the water's edge. Fleur was the first champion to reach the water. She ran directly off the dock without pausing and making a clean diving entry into the water. Al was a step behind her. In moments all of the champions were in the water except for Malfoy.

The Slytherins fourth year looked very small and pale in his swimming costume. To the Muggleborn and -raised amongst the students it look like something out of the 1920s. While Harry wanted to laugh at the other boy's pale, thin chicken legs, his humour was suspended with the knowledge that Harry himself was the one intended to be in this Tournament. If not for Ernie's joking comment, and Harry's own paranoia then Harry's name would have come out of the Goblet of Fire. It was a sobering thought.

Draco paused at the end of the dock and looked back to where his parents stood with Professor Snape. He nervously reached into his pocket and pulled out a small wad that looked something like spinach. Taking in nervous gulp, to Slytherin champion shoved the wide into his mouth before diving into the water.

For the next hour the audience did not have much to see. They became restless until Dumbledore had the house elves deliver snacks and pumpkin juice to the stands. When the mumbling started again bagman started telling tales of his Quidditch triumphs and inside stories about his former teammates and competitors. Harry found it interesting for the first five minutes but it quickly got annoying.

"This should count as detention," Harry muttered no longer paying any attention.

Viktor was the only champion to return within the one hour timeline with his hostage, Tracey Davis. Cedric came in next with Cho Chang just after the hour expired. Surprisingly, Malfoy was the next champion to return. His hostage was Pansy Parkinson who looked a little worse for wear. Her one leg looked as though it had been chewed on with lots of little red bite marks. Mdm. Pomfrey immediately whisked her into a tent to treat her wounds.

The remaining champions all return within the next 15 minutes. Fleur arrived with a small clone of herself wrapped in her arms and crying. Al helped her ashore trailed by his own girlfriend, Emily.

Harry was glad that his friends had returned safely, even Fleur. Once the Veela Princess removed the wand from her arse she was actually pretty fun to talk with – and she was very easy on the eyes too. Harry just hoped that the final task was actually something worth watching.

-V-

It was several days after the second task that Harry followed Sirius into the Headmaster's office. Sirius had scheduled the meeting to discuss some issues stemming from his position as Harry's guardian. Sirius insisted that Harry be present so he would be aware of what was going on with his accounts.

The Headmaster settled behind his wide desk in the hard, high-backed chair that was almost throne-like. Sirius sat with the unconscious grace forced onto him by his crazy mother as being 'proper' for a Pureblood. Harry sat next to his godfather silently as Sirius started to pull out some scrolls from inside his robe.

"Professor…"

"Albus," the Headmaster interrupted. "You haven't been my student in many years and I would appreciate you using my name – at least when we are in private."

Sirius merely nodded as he unrolled a scroll.

"According to the goblins, you were assigned by the Wizengamot as the executor of the Potter estate a week after James and Lily's deaths."

Dumbledore nodded. "That is correct, as per the wishes of their wills."

"The goblins were quite impressed with the growth of the Potter accounts under your control. They were _almost_ respectful."

The Headmaster shrugged. "Much of it was not my doing. I did convince the Ministry that naming the Potter's house for a nominal 1G fee would be looked on poorly by the public when they were stealing from the orphaned Boy-Who-Lived. They in fact paid 12 per cent over the estate agent's estimated market value before the attack. Years of working with teenagers has made me rather good at playing the guilt card."

The old wizard's amused observation made Harry snicker. He wasn't sure if he could trust the old wizard but one had to admit the man played the disappointed grandfather role very well.

"I tried to block the printing of the Harry Potter books but was unsuccessful. The court felt that no reasonable person would confuse the real Harry Potter with the literary creation based on his name and surviving the Killing Curse."

"Tell that to Ginny and the rest of the bloody fan club," Harry muttered. "They all thought they knew me before they even met me! And then they get miffed when I tell them their 'facts' on my life are so much bullocks!"

Dumbledore nodded. "I agree, Mr Potter. Unfortunately, the courts did not. I was able to get you 8 per cent of the gross sales on all items based on your name or likeness. While Quidditch stars routinely see 15-20 per cent, it was at least something. However, the agreement only covered up until you entered Hogwarts. Anything based on your time since the start of your First year is 25 per cent of gross – hence why no new books have been released since 31 July 1991.

"Why the difference?" Sirius asked curiously.

Dumbledore smiled – almost cynically. "Well, the Boy-Who-Lived books are only vaguely based on Mr Potter. In fact they only use his name and family history - nothing that has happened since that October. So they really are fiction. However, anything that is used since his return to the Wizarding world is based on true events which give him the higher rate."

"That's even worse," Harry said in a near growl. "They knew they were lies and passed it off like it was my real life." Dumbledore noticed that Harry's eyes were almost glowing with power and even with his age, power, and experience the headmaster felt uneasy. He decided to change the subject and hopefully Mr Potter would calm down.

"I also invested in several Muggle mutual funds that have done rather well of late. I have my family's money invested in the same ones. Their value will not be included in the goblins' accounting as it is outside Gringotts control." Dumbledore pulled out a folder and slid across the desk to Sirius. The younger wizard picked up the folder and started classing through the papers. Almost against his own will, Sirius nodded in appreciation of how well the accounts had done.

Harry saw the impressed expression on his godfather's face. It seemed the Headmaster had done an excellent job of managing the Potter money. It made Harry want to trust the old wizard a bit more. But there was still something bothering him.

"Headmaster, why did you leave me with the Dursleys?" Harry asked in a carefully controlled voice. One did not need to be a master of Legilimency to read the carefully controlled pain behind Harry's voice. However, as a master Legilimencer, Dumbledore almost could feel it pressing against his mental shields.

Dumbledore sighed. "That is not an easy question to answer, Mr Potter. The short answer is simply that was the best place available for you. The 'why' of that is where the difficulties lay."

Dumbledore paused a moment as if waiting for Harry to speak but Harry simply sat waiting. Dumbledore sighed again.

"First, one must understand the time. We had been on the edge of losing the war when Tom attacked your family. It was almost an accepted fact that it was only a matter of time until the Death Eaters won. Many were preparing to flee our island or trying to show how 'Pureblooded' they were to protect themselves when the Death Eaters took over. Then suddenly the war was over and we'd won. Most of the country spent the next week in celebration.

"I arrived at your parents' house shortly after their deaths. The wards were all down and the house was on fire. I put out the fire and checked on you. Aside from the scar on your forehead you merely slept. An Auror investigation team arrived to remove Tom's remains and determine what had occurred at the house. I was summoned to the Ministry and left you under the supervision of a Hogwarts elf.

"At the Ministry it was pure chaos. News of Tom's demise was celebrated and rumours of your survival of the Killing Curse were already starting to spread. Shortly after my arrival at the Ministry I was approached and casually asked who would be taking custody of the Boy-Who-Lived. It was the first time I'd ever heard the moniker that has followed you since. I quickly learnt there was an effort to have you assigned to the guardianship of one of two families. The first was the hand-picked successor of Minister Bagshot, Cornelius Fudge. The second was her main rival, the Head of the DMLE, Bartimus Crouch. It was not difficult to realize they were simply interested in you for the political capital it would accrue for them."

Harry paled at the mention of the two men. He did not doubt Dumbledore's assessment of the two wizard's interest in having custody of an orphaned half-blood child of a non-aristocratic family.

Dumbledore continued. "Officially, I was only the Headmaster of Hogwarts at the time, not the Chief Warlock nor involved with the ICW. As such, I had limited authority. I sent Hagrid to collect you that night from your parents' house. I had him spend a full day with you while I attempted to enact your parents' wills. With both parties within the Wizengamot blocking it, I quickly saw it was futile and sent word via Fawkes to Hagrid to meet me at your Aunt's house. Petunia was your only living blood relative within two degrees of relation. As such, even a politically motivated Ministry would have a hard time removing you from her care. I had hoped it would only be necessary for you to be there a short time until I could have James and Lily's wills executed."

Dumbledore smile ruefully. "I told Professor McGonagall about my plan early on. Do you know she spent the whole day watching the Dursleys in her Animagus form? She was rather against the plan, calling them 'the worst sort of Muggles.' Alas, she was correct as usual.

"We left you on the step with a warming, a notice-me-not, and sleeping charms in place. The wards I enacted required Petunia to voluntarily take you in. If I had forced you into her arms the magic would have failed. Her lifting you out of the basket with no prompting was sufficient for the magic for consider her action the voluntary acceptance of your guardianship.

"It took one week to execute the wills that named Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew, and Dolores Dearborn as your guardians. Unfortunately, Dolores, who was your mother's Gryffindor roommate and best friend, was killed one month before your parents. Sirius was in prison for betraying your parents and killing Mr Pettigrew. And while the Ministry would have allowed a werewolf to take in any other half-blood orphan, they blocked his effort to take custody of you even to the point of placing a ward on you to prevent his approaching you on pain of Azkaban. By that time, young Barty Crouch had already been revealed a Death Eater, leaving Cornelius as the primary candidate to be named your guardian unless you went to your aunt. I made the best decision I could under the circumstances."

Harry shivered at the thought of being raised in Fudge's house. While the man had been friendly enough the summer after Harry's First year, the events of Third year and the Quidditch World Cup left little doubt of the man's true character. Harry had a sudden vision of being raised along with the son of Fudge's 'good friend' Lucius Malfoy. The thought made Harry sick.

The Headmaster continued to speak unaware of the horrible visions crossing Harry's eyes. "By the time I became Chief Warlock five years later, Lucius Malfoy and Tom's other followers had again established themselves in the Ministry and Wizengamot. Attempting to open up the issue of your guardianship would have risked your assignment to one of those families. I am sure you can appreciate why I would not risk it."

Harry considered the Headmaster's story. It was consistent with what he'd learnt on his own. Many of the accounts of that night missed the fact there was a full day between the attack on his parents and his arrival at the Dursleys. McGonagall's day of observation was news to him though. Moony had mentioned he'd been blocked from visiting Harry at the Dursleys but he'd never gone into the specifics of how he'd been prevented from visiting.

Since first learning of the magical world Harry had little cause to trust authority figures in this world. Learning the truth of his parents' death, the myths that surrounded him and the prejudice against werewolves prevented Harry from trusting adult witches and wizards too far. Wolves by nature are cagey creatures and wary of strangers. It was a lesson Harry learned long before the Beast at the hands of his uncle.

Sirius and Remus were the first adults Harry trusted. (Sirius was more of a child anyway.) Kalina was moving into that circle also. Harry wasn't sure what to make of Dumbledore. While the Wizarding world place the old man on a pedestal and he had done well with the Potter finances there is just something in the beast that held Harry back from trusting the man. His instincts told Harry he was being hunted. That same instinct told Harry the headmaster knew something about it. Until the wizard was honest with Harry, or Harry simply had no choice, Harry resolved to keep his secrets his own.

Unaware of Harry's thoughts, Sirius broke the silence. "When I asked Hagrid where he was taking you, he said you wanted Harry out of sight for his own protection. That's why I gave him my bike to get Harry further away quickly. With Harry safe, I went looking for the traitor."

"I always did wonder about that," Dumbledore admitted. "If you were in fact the traitor, then why assist Hagrid in your protection? My suspicion at the time was you either were truly fond of young Mr Potter and did not see the point in attacking him once Tom was apparently dead, or you did not realize Mr Potter here was Tom's real target that night."

The three wizards sat in silence for several minutes as each thought about the errors, false assumptions, and flat out bad luck that had led them to this point. The silence was growing awkward when Dumbledore finally spoke.

"May I hope that this discussion has gone some way to clear the air between us?"

Sirius glanced at Harry before nodding. "Yes, prof…Albus, I believe it has."

"Excellent! Then I wish to present yourselves and Remus with a bit of a challenge."

"What kind of a challenge?" Sirius asked somewhat suspiciously. Harry also looked curious.

Dumbledore glanced down over his glasses with an amused expression. "During our last event, I believe our host made some rather vocal observations of how boring things were for those of us not in the Tournament ourselves."

"They were underwater the whole time," Harry asserted. "Fred and George wanted to start selling fishing poles just for something to do."

Dumbledore smiled. "Quite an imagination those two boys have. Possibly even better than the Marauders." Sirius looked indignant at the assertion. Harry simply smiled as he watched Padfoot's reaction.

"For the next event we'd planned on having a maze created on the Quidditch pitch. The Champions would have to get to the centre of the maze while avoiding magical traps and several creatures provided by Hagrid. However, with nine champions," the Headmaster paused a moment to glance at Harry, "we simply have too many participants to fit into the space. So I propose a challenge to the Marauders and their successors. Provide a challenge course to test our champions that is difficult without being deadly. The challenge will occur on the 21st of June as OWL and NEWT testing will be done.

Sirius and Harry exchanged incredulous looks. Was the Headmaster serious about this?

"It also rather does the students the favour of distracting you and the Weasley twins from your prank war so they can get some studies done." Harry laughed at the professor's awareness of the battle between Harry and his friends against the Twin Terrors.

"So gentlemen, do you accept?"

A/N: This chapter was a bit of an experiment for me. So please review and let me know what you think. (And no, I am not saying what the experiment was – that would ruin the experiment.

It is the longest chapter in the story to date (7,758). I knew where I wanted it to end and what had to happen before I got there. If I stick to my outline (which doesn't always happen), we have two more chapters left in Fourth year. Beyond that? We'll see.


	13. The Princess Marauder

AN: One reviewer asked why Harry wasn't experiencing the pain or seeing vision from Voldemort. The Horcrux that was in Harry was destroyed fighting the lycanthropy. While some of the power (Parselmouth) remains, the soul connection and the piece of Tom was destroyed.

I also had one guest reviewer take me to task for the title of the story. I was told it would be correct to say "Where Is Harry?" or "Where's Harry?". Should I feel bad to point out the title is a pun?

Sorry for the delay in posting this chapter. I finished up two of my last classes in my Masters program with long papers on Advanced Project Risk Management and the British efforts in counterintelligence during WWII. Then I brought my son home from Boise, ID to Philadelphia with a road trip through Las Vegas, the Grand Canyon, Nashville, and several other stops. Then my last class started. When you add in work, I just didn't have a lot of time to write.

So without further ado, I present …

**The Princess Marauder**

1 April 1995

In the months since the second challenge Hogwarts had been in a state of building suspense. Word had quickly leaked to the student population of Dumbledore's challenge to the Marauders and the Weasley twins. The staff thought the headmaster daft for proposing such a challenge. Yes the prank war between the twins and Harry and his friends had come to an abrupt halt but it was like knowing that a massive dragon was bearing down on them and they couldn't do anything about it. Amongst the students speculation ran rampant on what the pranksters would come up with for the challenge. Although there have been repeated attempts to get Harry or the twins to give some information on the Third task, no one had succeeded. That simply added to the fervour.

The champions had only one way of describing their feelings on the challenge: scared witless. Cedric and Draco had seen what the Weasley twins were capable of over the last several years. Fleur, Al, Viktor, and the other foreign champions had seen the prank war since their arrival. The thought that they would have to deal with the combined efforts of the Weasley twins and the Marauders had them all very nervous- especially Draco.

Not without cause Draco was rather sure the pranksters would target him. He tried complaining to his father to remove the pranksters' challenge as a school governor. The elder Malfoy even want so far as to complain to Minister Fudge but had no luck. Sirius's position as the head of the Ancient and Noble family of Black was enough to counter Malfoy's lobbying. It was only after Lucius failed that Draco realized his very attempt would probably focus more of the pranksters' attention on himself. Draco was not having a good spring.

Now the Great Hall was filled with the students of three schools along with the staff and ministry visitors. They were there to hear the details of the third challenge. The staff table had been removed and replaced with a large mirror. Several other mirrors were mounted on the walls of the Hall or small ones were freestanding on the tables. Standing in front of the large mirror were the familiar figures of Harry Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and the Weasley twins.

Once the students and guests were settled into their seats a door opened on the side of the Great Hall and Dumbledore led the other headmasters into the room and over to seats set aside for them near their champions. Dumbledore gestured for the other school heads to be seated before turning to the waiting pranksters.

"Gentlemen, the floor is yours."

Harry stepped forward from the group. He drew a quick breath and then started. "I have been chosen to be our spokesperson for explaining this event. Some people felt that my recent experience would make me a good speaker. Honestly I just said I would do it to stop us from listening to the Weasley's twin – speak and save us all the headache." Many of the students broke into appreciative chuckles as the twins pretended to act offended.

"Now as you may have heard they originally intended to grow a privet hedge maze on the grounds of the Quidditch Stadium, throw in some of Hagrid's pets, and then send the champions on a race to see who could get to the centre first. Since the hedges were going to be 10 feet tall we spectators would have once again been left with very little to watch. Now we couldn't have that could we?"

"I would've preferred that whatever you've cooked up, Harry," Al called out. Harry flashed his friend a smile that could only be called evil. The champions started to feel even more nervous.

Harry continued on, his voice building up like a showman.

"Instead the Marauders with assistance from the incomparable Weasley twins have developed a challenge that will thrill you and keep you on the edge of your seat from start to finish. We present to you: The Princess Marauder!"

At Harry's announcement the mirror started the cloud over until no reflection was visible. Instead it looked like the ceiling of the Great Hall before a storm. Thick clouds seem to roil around. The student seemed a bit shocked and focused on watching the mirrors. They didn't even notice when their presenters seem to disappear. At least, until Harry's voice seemed to boom out of everywhere.

"The Princess Marauder harkens back to the great tales of magic, heroism, and determination we all grew up with. Our champions must act as those champions of old to rescue our Princess marauder from her vile captors! To do this they must use all their intelligence, magic, and strength to be successful in the quest!"

The images in the mirror started to clear to show the edge of the Black Lake looking towards the Forbidden Forest. In the water shapes could be seen swimming around. A small sailboat floated nearby. The mirror seemed to move forward towards the lake and out over the water. Suddenly a shriek was heard and a massive serpent thrust its head out of the water and almost seemed to come through the mirror's surface. Many of the students screamed in fear.

"For the first part of the quest, our champions must cross the Black Lake that has been infested with shrieking eels. These vicious, meat eating eels emit a horrible, shrill scream when they're about to feed. They always get louder as they are about to feed on human flesh."

The mirror now seemed to fly over the water as the shrieking eels attempted to feast on whatever it was they could see. Several of the champions looked ready to flee the Hall with just the thought of facing those creatures.

"Once our champions reached the other side of the lake, they must plunge into the Forbidden Forest while avoiding quicksand, flaming traps… and, oh yes, the AOUS's."

Now the mirror was flying through the forest and paths. The image past an angry centaur with bow drawn, several trolls, and a mother bear with a young. Then the mirror seemed to draw nearer to a dark tangle of branches and leaves. An ominous clicking sound was heard in the plant started to shake. The watchers felt the creature was about to be revealed when the mirror swung away and plunged deeper into the forest. The mirror again came to a stop at the foot of the monstrous cliff that none of the students were even aware existed in the forest.

"The survivors of the forbidden forest must now climb the Cliffs of Insanity! The unpredictable winds that swirl along the cliff make flying almost impossible. Climbing is the only real option."

The mirror seemed to fly up the rocky face of the cliff. The onlookers were frightened by the sheer vertical surface. Rock climbing was virtually unknown in the Wizarding world so no one really had the first clue and how to deal with something like this.

The mirror view reached the top of the cliff. At the top was a small clearing with some ruins. The mirror flew a short distance into the ruins. There was an opening in the ground leading down into total blackness. The mirror image seemed to flutter around the opening as though it was too scared to proceed.

"Once at the top our champions face one final challenge. They must descend into the Pit of Despair to rescue our fair Princess! Here in the pit our champions must face their greatest fears."

"Now of course we can expect all of you to be following behind our champions to watch them meet their challenges during the Princess Marauder. As you have all seen we have placed enchanted mirrors throughout the hall," Harry gestured to the large mirror behind him and then to the other ones around the hall. "These mirrors show the images captured on special crystal balls. To track our champions we call upon some special assistants. Dobby!"

At Harry's call, a very familiar house elf appeared 10 feet off the ground riding an elf-sized broom. The broom quickly accelerated like the Firebolt it resembled to zip the elf around the room. Dobby was giggling madly as he dove on the students and whipped the broom back and forth.

Harry heard one of the twin's comment, "I didn't know elves inherited their master's desire to fly like crazy person."

"Either that or they were bloody made for each other!" the other Weasley responded. Harry grinned at them and refrained from commenting.

"Our Elven friends will follow our champions on their quest. Some others will be stationary at certain key places to capture the action. The images from their crystal balls will be presented here at Hogwarts for all to see and enjoy! Similar mirrors will also be installed in various places including: Hogsmeade, Diagon Alley, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang for the rest of the population to watch."

Harry grinned over at the champions who were looking a bit pale. "So be ready champions – the world will be watching!

-I-

"Those mirrors are interesting, Harry," Hermione commented that night in the common room. "Where did they come from?" Harry and his friends including Ernie and Daphne had been sitting in the Gryffindor common room talking for two hours before Hermione finally asked her question. Harry was rather impressed. The twins had only expected her to last an hour.

"Spying on the girls' loo apparently," Harry answered with a small grin.

"Harry James Potter! What do you mean by that?" Hermione demanded. Padma had turned from her place leaning up against Harry to glare at her boyfriend.

"Not by me!" Harry protested. "The Marauders did it when they were in school- at least until Mum caught them and boxed their ears for it according to Mooney." Now the listening girls nodded with satisfaction.

"Still, when Padfoot told me the story I could see it had potential. It sort of looks like it works the same as a Muggle telly, but not really. Wizards used to use's scrying mirrors to observe distant events. Even Muggles heard about them."

"Like in the Disney stories," Hermione commented with a nod.

Padma shook her head. "Not really. I remember seeing Snow White with my aunt when I was little. Scrying mirrors are a part of divination that is now a lost art."

Hermione made a little face at the mention of her least favourite subject. "Divination? So really they were used to tell the future?"

"No," Padma disagreed, "divination used to be defined as the study of using magic to gather information. Seeing the future was only a part of the overall field. One ritual reportedly used a map and a focus of some type to locate missing people or objects or search for underground minerals or water. Even Muggles have heard of 'divining rods'. Wards started to become common that prevented divination magic from penetrating into protected areas and the Ministry suppressed much of it as interfering with privacy concerns. If you ask me they were helping some wealthy contributors hide their misdeeds. So over time we lost that magic.

"Now, the old scrying mirrors were used literally to watch events as they happened. But there were limitations on the mirrors. The user had to enchant a bird or other animal to link their vision to the mirror. If the animal died or the spell broke somehow the mirror became useless and could not be used again with another animal."

Harry smiled listening to Padma's explanation. He picked up when she paused. "Back when they were in school, my father and Remus managed to link a small crystal to a mirror. They mounted the crystal on a small statue and enchanted the statue as an air freshener. Then they tricked a First year girl into placing it in the loo.

"They learned that the size and quality of the crystal determines how good a picture they get on the mirror. The cheap, little crystal they used gave a blurry image. Our crystals are larger and of good quality so we get good images on the mirrors. Plus, the crystals take images from all directions around it and above and below it. Even if you're not seeing it on the mirror you can go back later and see the rest of what was picked up by the crystal." Harry's friends looked impressed with the abilities of the new mirrors.

"How do you control what images people are going to see during the challenge?" Ernie asked. Harry grinned.

"That we stole from the telly. We took over an unused classroom and turned it into a control room. It's entirely staffed with house elves. They are acting as the directors and stuff to control what is seen on the mirrors. Then the images of course are captured by our very own elven flying corp."

Hermione looked indignant over the use of house elves. Harry caught her expression and added, "All the elves are volunteers. They've been having fun and we promised them they could keep the brooms when we were done. You should have seen their faces." Ron and Ernie smiled at the mention of the elves and the brooms.

"Do they all fly like Dobby?" Ron asked.

Harry snickered. "Padfoot wants to create a house elf Quidditch league. Moony yelled at him for it but he just keeps talking about. The elves got excited about the idea. It's a little scary to see Sirius being followed around by a small horde of excited elves. I think they were feeding ideas off each other."

The others laughed while Ron just shook his head. Harry asked him what the problem was.

"England just managed to survive the Dark Lord, I'm not sure we'd survive a Prank Lord with an army of house elves at his command." The other stopped laughing as they considered Ron's comment.

Ernie gestured towards Ron with his bottle of butterbeer and said, "Bloke's got a point."

Harry made a waving off gesture as he leaned back into his couch with an evil grin. "Ah, it's far worse than that." Harry turned and made eye contact with Ron. "You know that prank shop your brothers have always dreamed of opening?" Ron nodded warily. Harry's grin grew wider.

"A couple of days ago they were telling Sirius and Remus about their plans. Padfoot decided to become their financial backer. So now the Marauders and the Weasley twins are business partners."

Harry chuckled at the scared looks on his friends' faces at that concept. It would make life interesting to say the least.

-II-

20 May 1995

It was the last Hogsmeade weekend of the school year. An early spring had come to Hogwarts. It had rained much of April and early May but had been dry for the past several days. This gave the students a beautiful warm weekend surrounded by the new green foliage. It was not an opportunity any of the students were likely to waste.

Harry and his friends had broken into the respective couples to enjoy the magical village. On the advice of Remus, Harry took Padma to a small restaurant that was outside the area the students normally visited. They had a nice lunch together and Harry mostly listened as Padma discussed her plans to become a Healer after leaving Hogwarts. She was particularly interested in the growing field of combining magical healing with new advanced Muggle surgical techniques.

"Yes, we do have a potion that can remove an infected appendix, but it takes 24 hours for the potion to completely work and it's rather messy for the next two days as the body expels what's left of the appendix. Muggles can now make a small incision, take out the appendix, stitch it back up and have you home the next day. If we could do the removal and then give a general healing potion you would be able to leave in the same hour!"

For Harry's part, he simply enjoyed the lunch and nodded in the appropriate place. He liked Padma's enthusiasm but he could do with a little less detail. He spent enough time in the hospital wing for his own injuries without having to know all the details. But it made Padma happy so he was willing to deal with it.

After lunch the young couple roamed around the village for a bit before heading to the Three Broomsticks to meet their friends. As they approached their meeting place they saw a small crowd gathered just outside. They heard a familiar voice yelling from inside the crowd. They quickly made their way through the crowd. Standing in the opening in the centre of the crowd was Hermione with Ernie standing behind her with his wand at the ready. The witch was confronting Draco Malfoy and his bookends.

"Let me ask you a question, Malfoy. What percentage of the Hogwarts students is Muggleborn?"

Malfoy sneered at the question. "Why would I want to count vermin?" Snickers were heard from the surrounding Slytherins.

"It's about 30 per cent; half-bloods makeup about 45 per cent with the rest being purebloods. When Voldemort started the first war, Muggleborn only made up 20 per cent of the Hogwarts students. Do you know why that per cent changed?"

"Obviously, the Dark Lord missed a few and you breed like the vermin you are. I guess we need to do some housecleaning again. "

Hermione ignored Draco's comment. "In absolute numbers we have one more Muggle-born in Hogwarts today than we did when Voldemort started his attacks. So if our numbers stayed the same but a percentage went up what does that mean? I'll tell you what it means; it means the number of purebloods is what went down. How many old pureblood families died or are down to only a few members left? The Potters, the Bones, the Blacks, the Longbottoms, the Crouches, the McKinnons, the Wilkes, the Prewetts; all of them are gone or down to one or two family members. Then you have the families where all the child-bearing age members in in Azkaban- not that that is any great loss. At the rate the Death Eaters were going there would be no one left in the magical world that was a Pureblood. Today, the average Pureblood family has 1.4 children - even less if you take out the Weasleys. That means you Purebloods aren't even reproducing your own numbers let alone making up for those lost on both sides in your Master's war. Meanwhile, new Muggle-born are born every year at the same rate as before the war. And every new Hogwart's class is left with have fewer Purebloods."

Draco was furious. "That's a LIE!" he screamed. "The Dark Lord was here to protect the pureblood way of life! Your lies won't change that!"

"Check the facts yourself, Malfoy," Hermione growled. "That is, unless you're too scared to learn the truth. In either case, I'm done with you." Hermione turned and started heading towards the Three Broomsticks. As she crossed in front of Ernie's field of vision, Malfoy struck.

Or, at least tried to.

The blonde Slytherin made a sudden motion and his wand appeared in his hand. He started to cast a curse directly at the witch's unguarded back when he suddenly found himself smashed to the ground.

"Don't try that again ya little ferret." Harry growled. The crowd unconsciously took a step back from the aura of menace that Harry was radiating. Harry glared down at the prone boy. "Do you want to try trading spells with me?"

Malfoy stared up at the Gryffindor in sheer terror. Somewhere in the bottom of that place where most have a heart, Draco Malfoy knew that Harry Potter would kill him given the opportunity. Father had told him stories when Draco was a child of the power and menace of the Dark Lord to those that opposed or failed Him. Nothing in his imagination matched the way Potter made him feel right now starring up into those green eyes that seemed to glow with repressed power.

"I'll take'm from here, Potter."

The crowd of students parted to allow their Defence professor passage. Moody stumped forward with his wand drawn. A silent spell shot out of his wand and connected with Malfoy tuning into him into a snowy white ferret. The creature let out a startled squeak and tried to run only to be levitated into the air by the former Auror.

"I think a ferret fits 'em, lad," Moody said to Harry with a disturbing grin.

"Professor," Hermione started, "Harry was just …"

"No need for that, lass," Moody interrupted her. "Saw the whole thing. Yon boyfriend of yours did a solid job of watching yer back till you blocked his line of sight from these idiots. Fortunately Potter was here to cover. Good team work. Would have made decent Aurors. Nice speech on the stupidity of those idiots' little war too.

"Well, I am going to take young Mr Malfoy here up so he can start serving his detentions. I'm sure Filch or Hagrid can find something appropriate for 'em to do." A few Slytherins started to protest but the Defence professor's glare silenced them as he stomped up towards the castle.

Harry walked over to where his friends were gathered around Hermione. Ron was standing there also but he just stood with a blissful zoned-out expression.

"Ron- you okay, mate?" Ernie asked. Ron nodded vacantly.

"Just trying to burn that into my memory. First Malfoy nearly wets himself because of Harry here and then Moody creates Malfoy, the Incredible Floating Ferret. Hey Harry, can you try to teach me the Patronus Charm again? I think I have a good memory for it now." The friends laughed and went into the Three Broomsticks to resume their day.

-III-

The students filtered into the Three Broomsticks and soon the inn was filled with laughter and talking like any normal Hogsmeade weekend. Harry had just managed to finish his first butterbeer when their table had a new arrival.

"Hello, Furry Potter." Harry turned from his friends to see a familiar blonde witch standing next to him.

"Hello, Luna. Do you want to join us?"

"Hmm, that would be nice. Almost like having friends. But first I have to tell you something, Furry Potter."

Harry felt a sense of dread. Luna always had a way of saying completely screwy things that later seemed to make perfect sense. The fact she'd sought him out to tell him something raised his hackles. "What is it, Luna?"

Luna's wide eyes stared directly into Harry's. "Soon your opponent will know your secret. You will need to decide if the ones on your side will still need to play with blinders on." Luna turned and looked at the rest of the group; her head cocked in a curious fashion. "Did you know Muggles can't understand how a bumblebee can fly? They can't see the little piece of magic that keeps them up."

Hermione looked like she was in pain trying to interrupt the blonde witch's words. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Exactly what I said."

Hermione looked as though she wanted to tear her (or Luna's) hair out. "That doesn't make any sense!"

Luna giggled. "Of course not, silly. The magical world is completely nonsensical. But it is in keeping with the best traditions of the Lovegood family motto."

Harry didn't want to ask but apparently Ernie just needed to know. "And what is your family motto?"

Luna still smiled but her gaze sharpened as she looked directly at Harry. "If you can't lead them with logic, baffle them with bullshit."

-IV-

21 June 1995

The morning of the final challenge was an absolutely beautiful morning. The sky was the kind of blue that poets wrote bad sonnets about. The temperature was a wee bit higher than normal but a small breeze kept it from being uncomfortable.

Due to the beautiful weather, many of Hogwart's inhabitants and their guests chose to watch the final task from the Quidditch stadium. Down on the pitch, the goal rings on one side had been replaced with six large mirrors fitted together. Smaller mirrors hovered in place around the stadium.

Across from the large mirrors, those rings had also been replaced with a large stage. The middle part of the stage was six feet off the ground with the 'wings' raised up as VIP boxes. One VIP box was for the schools' faculty while the other was for Ministry guests. Many of the spectators had moved to sit on the grass of the pitch using blankets thoughtfully provided by the elves.

A party atmosphere was filled the stadium as the spectators gathered. The task was a source of that excitement but the mirrors were a factor also. It seemed even the magical world liked gadgets, particularly when they added to their entertainment and didn't seem to endanger their livelihood. Since this was a purely magical device and not making a Muggle device work in a magical environment, even the hard-core Purebloods did not find issue with it.

Inside a large tent behind the stage, the champions were gathering along with their families. The school headmasters and the judges were also filtering around. In one corner, Sirius and Kalina were holding court with their one month-old daughter, Cassiopeia Lily Black. Sirius was playing the bragging, doting father; Kalina looked smug while Cassi looked like she wanted a nap. (When she spit up all over Sirius's new robes, Harry silently promised to buy her a new toy. That's what good Godfathers did. Was it too early to get her a broom?)

The Blacks were surrounded by well-wishers- including Narcissa Black Malfoy to Harry's surprise. Harry expected her to avoid Sirius and his half-Veela daughter as an affront to the "Always Pure" motto of the Black family. However, it seemed a cute baby was universally attractive. Harry actually enjoyed the snarky comments Narcissa slipped in on Sirius. For the first time he could see the family resemblance between the cousins. Harry found it odd she was not hovering over Draco but noticed the Malfoy scion in a corner surrounded by Malfoy Sr and several other men, all seemed to be giving the Slytherin advice.

'And in this corner, the Death Eater Champion, Draco Malfoy!' Harry thought as he watched the group. Just looking at them made the Beast want to run wild. Harry walked away before he would cause an international incident.

Soon Dumbledore came in to announce the start of the Third task. The Champions took a brief minute for a last word with family for encouragement and then proceeded out onto the centre stage.

The champions looked nervous as they assembled on the centre stage. The nine students all seemed nervous and somewhat impatient for the event to start. Unfortunately for them they had to sit through a lot of talk from all three Ministries. Fudge talk the longest of all and managed to say the least. Watching the man speak Harry, at first, could not decide what would be worse: his childhood with his relatives or being raised by Fudge. But after the man droned on for 10 minutes he had his answer. Vernon never made Harry want to go jump in the lake with the shrieking eels.

A burst of fireworks behind the stadium cut off Fudge's speech. Sirius took advantage of the Minister of Magic's surprise to take over the stage.

"Now for the event you have all come to see!" The large crowd cheered. Harry was rather impressed with the volume they reached.

"Before we get started today we have a few simple rules," Sirius announced. "First, no champion is allowed to hex, curse, charm, transfigure, or in any other way using magic on another champion except in a situation to assist where the targeted champion's life is in imminent danger. Second, our champions will start two at a time in random pairings. And finally the creatures within the Princess Marauder are here of their own free will. Champions will refrain from the use of potentially deadly spells. If you do use a deadly spell the creatures are free to respond in kind." Sirius levelled a deadly serious gaze at each of the nine champions.

"Short of lethal magic, your opponents in this challenge will use whatever they can to prevent you from completing this challenge. Do you understand?"

The champions all nodded agreement. Harry noticed that a few of them, including Malfoy, now looked rather cocky with the news that their lives were not in danger. Harry held back his laughter. Sometimes to a teenager there were things worse than death.

-V-

The champions were sent into the tent to await their call. This prevented them from watching the progress of those called before them and learning from their efforts.

Viktor and Al were the first to champions to start. They each jumped into a small wooden sailboat. Viktor used a charm to blow wind into the sail while Al pointed his wand at the water behind the boat and cast the spell to propel the boat forward. The eels went crazy swimming around the boats and screaming. Al's spell seemed to attract the eels. Viktor managed to pull ahead as the eels forced Al off course. Viktor made it to the other shore almost 20 seconds before Al.

As the boys disappeared into the Forbidden Forest, two more started, Roger Davies and August Penev. Both boys tried to use the same wind generating charm Viktor used to a less effective result.

On the monitor he could see Victor and Al moving through the Forest. They had chosen separate paths. Viktor vaulted a quicksand trap with an impressive display of athleticism. Harry turned to another mirror just in time to see Al using a Flame Freezing Charm to charge straight through a fire trap without so much as a burn mark. The crowd was going crazy cheering for the two champions. Harry was glad to see the two were doing well.

Then screaming started from certain audience members. Harry glanced at the mirrors and saw the Durmstrang wizard, August Penev was in trouble on the lake. The eels managed to capsize the boy's boat and were circling in an excited frenzy. The boy was screaming in panic as his grip started to slip. One of the eels latched onto the boy's foot- jerking him back into the water. The boy disappeared under the black water in a boil of eels. Further ahead, Roger Davies was watching in helpless shock at the loss of a fellow champion.

The audience started to protest when August appeared in the centre of the stage dripping but none the worse for wear. He looked around in shock at his sudden apparent rescue before fainting to the floor.

"Ladies and gentleman, how about a round of applause for our first champion, August Penev!" The audience was silent in shock themselves as they watched a trio of house-elves help the unconscious boy off the stage. "Come on now, surely you didn't think we would allow a student to potentially die! "

"Do you think potentially scaring a student to death is a prank, Mr Black? That it is funny?" McGonagall demanded as she stormed onto the stage.

Sirius looked like a Firstie caught sneaking into the girls' loo. "Um, yes?"

It was only Dumbledore's arrival that saved Sirius from becoming a throw rug in front of the Transfiguration professor's fireplace.

"Now Minerva, don't be too upset. Mr Black has assured me there are no truly dangerous obstacles on the course. And I have assured myself they have a sufficient supply of Calming Potions."

"Can we give her one now?" Sirius asked. McGonagall stared in outrage as Dumbledore chuckled.

"Sorry my boy. Those are for the students. You shall have to deal with Professor McGonagall on your own." Sirius looked betrayed as the crowd laughed. McGonagall silenced them with a glare that even impressed the Beast.

Turning back to her former student, the professor announced, "For every student that is physically harmed on this 'quest' of yours, you will serve a day's detention!" Sirius tried to protest but the Scottish witch was on a roll. "No, I don't want to hear it, Sirius Black! Or do you want to make it two days!"

Sirius' arse chewing was interrupted by the tone announcing two more champions were starting. Harry saw Malfoy jump into a boat with Michele Desmarais of Beauxbatons just behind him. Harry moved over to the mirror showing Draco. He really wanted to see this.

Malfoy tried to use the same propulsion charm Al had tried. Harry expected the wealthy scion had used small boats before as he seemed rather comfortable in the boat and was making good time crossing the lake. He was nearing the far shore when an eel suddenly leapt out of the water.

The eel smashed into Draco's chest sending him crashing to the bottom of the boat. The eel thrashed around while Draco tried to dodge its thrashing jaws while trying to recover his wand. He managed to get his wand from where it had fallen without being bitten. His panicked but angry expression was visible as Malfoy prepared to cast a spell at the land-bound eel.

Before he could cast, another eel hit the front of the boat knocking it to the side. Concentrating on punishing the beast that threatened him, Draco was not prepared for the sudden lurch and fell back over the small sides of the boat. He hit the water as the shrieks of the eels grew incredible loud drowning out any noise coming from Draco.

Narcissa Malfoy screamed as her son disappeared in the swarm of shrieking eels. She ran down from the VIP section of the stage anticipating her baby appearing like the Durmstrang boy. But Malfoy never appeared.

The crowd was breathlessly silent as they waited for Malfoy. Then a spectator cried out, "Look there!"

As one, the crowd turned to the mirrors to see Malfoy flying over the lake in a ballistic trajectory. The young wizard was already at the top of his arc as he rocketed towards the lakeshore. The projecting crystal's location was at a 90 degree angle from Malfoy's path and was pulled all the way back so the crowd could easily visualize his probable flight path.

"And it think he has the height!" Harry announced from the stage. "Does he? Yes! Young Draco Malfoy has successfully made it to the other side of the Black Lake." Draco smashed into the small sandy beach area that had been created as a landing spot for the sailboats. A new crystal activated that was much closer and zoomed in on Draco. He was laying in the sand drawling deep breaths; his eyes wide in shock at his encounter with the eels and his sudden unpowered flight.

"Get moving, Malfoy!" Harry yelled into his microphone. Draco seemed to hear him as he sat up with a jolt.

"Damn you, Potter," the blonde wizard cursed as he forced himself to his feet. The crowd watched as he drew his wand and ran shakily towards the Forest.

"I guess there are some things even the eels won't eat," Harry commented to Sirius. The glare Narcissa threw him when she heard was truly worthy of Snape.

-VI-

Sarah Dimitriova was the next contestant to fall out of the task. The Durmstrang witch dove to avoid a fireball and landed flat in the centre of a quicksand trap. The panicked witch thrashed about helplessly as she was pulled down into the muck. When she appeared on the platform two seconds after disappearing into the sand, the poor witch was almost out of her mind in fear and could barely grasp that she was safe.

Madam Pomfrey arrived almost immediately with a Calming Potion in hand. She coaxed the terrified girl into drinking it and a short time later led the girl off the stage to the applause of the crowd. However, the glare the Healer gave Sirius was not very friendly.

"Wow, Padfoot, you're gonna be in detention all summer at this rate," Harry commented with a cheeky grin at his godfather.

"You can always join him, Mr Potter," Professor McGonagall announced from behind the Fourth year wizard.

"Yes, professor," Harry acknowledged while glaring at Sirius for not warning him of the witch's approach.

Screams broke out in the stadium distracting the pair of wizards. One the giant screen they say the image of Draco Malfoy being chased by a pair of Acromantulas. The giant spiders were flinging large balls of webbing the size of softballs at the fleeing wizard. Draco had apparently lost his wand in the forest at some point.

"I see Malfoy found the AOUS's," Sirius casually commented.

Fred disagreed. "Looks more like they found him." Fred and George had just joined them as they watched Draco's attempts to get away from the Arachnids Of Unusual Size.

"They don't seem to like him too much," George observed. The spiders now had Draco stuck between two web lines and swinging the boy from tree to tree.

The spiders were so distracted they failed to notice Fleur run past them but the crowd did. Some boo' d the French witch feeling she should have stopped to help her fellow Champion but most cheered her for taking advantage of her opportunity.

In any case, shortly after Fleur disappeared from view, Draco passed out and a portkey hidden on his body activated. Narcissa was already moving when her son's limp form appeared on the stage. Those on the stage were immediately assaulted by certain smells coming from the unconscious Slytherin. The cause of the smell was obvious a moment later when Madam Pomfrey floated the wizard off the stage.

"Dobby not cleaning that up," Dobby announced as he popped in. "Bad Old Master used to make Dobby clean up after Bad Old Master's Son all the time. Bad Old Master's Son took a long time to learn to use the loo like a proper wizard. But Dobby is a free elf now and Dobby say 'No!'" Then he popped away again. The crowd broke into shocked laughter to hear such a thing from an elf.

When they finished laughing, Sirius commented, "Freeing that elf was the best thing you've done, Harry." Harry could only nod his agreement as he tried to get his breath back.

-VII-

Al DiGiamotto burst from the Forbidden Forest to find himself standing in a small clearing looking up. The Cliffs of Insanity turned out to be a steep, craggy-faced cliff with a thick rope hanging down- one for each Champion. Nine ropes hung down the entire height of the cliff. Each was spaced thirty feet apart. He could see Cedric scrambling up one of the ropes in the centre of the cliff. The Hogwart's wizard seemed to be making impressive progress up his rope. All the way over to the far left of the cliff Al spotted Viktor Krum working his way up. The Bulgarian was solid muscle but seemed to be having problems as he clung to his rope and was pointing his wand off at something Al couldn't see.

Al started up the cliff while cursing Harry under his breath but loud enough for the magical microphones to pick up to the amusement of the spectators. Unlike the others, Al recognized the source of the challenges and while he loved the film, facing the eels, the "fire forest" and the giant spiders was a bit much. What the Marauders and the Weasley twins had planned for the cliff and the pit made the wizard nervous.

The French-Italian wizard had progressed a third of the way up the Cliff when the first strains of screams reached him. Al's eyes darted franticly above him looking for the source of the eerie wailing. That is when he saw the woman with the long, flowing black hair and a gaunt, green-tinged face.

A banshee.

Then he spotted another woman nestled on another rocky ledge several feet higher than the first and twenty feet over to his right. This was a small woman wearing a white cap and wearing a faded, decayed-looking green shawl wrapped around her. She seemed to spot Al at the same time and let out another keening wail different from the banshee.

The wall of sound from the two female creatures hit Al with an almost physical force. A wave of fear swept over Al as he fumbled for his wand tucked into his belt. His shaking hand fumbled as he pulled his wand out. The world seemed to be spinning as he grasped towards the wand only to see it fall down towards the forest floor below. Al whipped his head around in panic now. Without a wand how could he compete? He would have to go back down for it! But these creatures….!

Al seemed to see another woman appear of a nearby ledge. But he blinked and it seemed as though he'd just seen an afterimage- like after looking into a muggle flash-bulb. But then another wail joined the unholy chorus of sound. In desperation, Al reached up to cover his ears to protect them from the hideous wails.

And let go of the rope.

"God damn you, Potter!" Al screamed as he fell headlong towards the ground.

The port-key activated just two feet from the ground.

Sitting in the stands, Ron blurted out the question almost everyone sitting around him was wondering.

"What the bloody hell were those things?!"

"Well, the first thing was a banshee," Seamus answered in a shaken tone. The creatures were a particular fear of the Irish wizard.

Morag McDougal supplied the next answer in her Scottish brogue. "The second was a Caointeach. Similar to a banshee, but they live in the Western Highlands of Argyle. Don't know what the last thing was. Never really saw it."

Hermione answered as she returned to the stands with Ernie in tow.

"Based on what the first two were, I'd guess they found a Cyhyraeth. According to the Monster Book of Monsters, Banshee, Caointeach, and Cyhyraeth are believed to all be formed by the spirits of witches that have faced some type of tragic event just prior to their death. Obviously there must be something else to it or many more would have been formed after the war. No one has ever managed to communicate with one or observe them in the wild for long. I honestly have no idea how they managed to get them to come here."

"Where are Cyhyraeth from?" Daphne asked. She'd never heard of the creature before.

"Wales –South Wales actually," Hermione answered.

Further discussion was forgotten as Fleur arrived at the base of the cliff. To the amazement of the crowd, the French witch ignored the ropes and used her broom to zoom to the cliff top where Cedric and Viktor had just finished their climbs.

-VIII-

"I professional Quidditch player and I never think of using broom," Viktor commented in disgust as the beautiful French Champion landed gracefully nearby.

Cedric snorted a laugh. "Me neither."

"They never said we must take one of their little boats to cross the lake, no?" Fleur responded with a superior little smirk. Her male competitors laughed in agreement.

"Clever," Cedric acknowledged. "Plus since you started behind us and caught up that means you are in the lead." Fleur waved that off.

"I just want to get this thing done. Harry must pay for this. One of his little fire traps managed to catch me at a too-conveniently timed burst." She turned to show the other two Champions burn marks on her robes just where her bum was. "I was jumping about trying to put out the flames on my rear while one his damned elves hovered nearby waving at me. I am sure the spectators enjoyed that!" The wizards were laughing again as they listened to Fleur describe her encounter in her French accent.

"Not sure you can blame Harry," Cedric pointed out. "Mr Black and his wife may have done it too. And there is always the Weasley twins." Fleur looked a bit surprised by the idea and then her eyes narrowed in thought. Cedric was seriously glad the French witch wasn't annoyed with _him_.

The entrance to the Pit of Despair looked like a natural cave ripped open at the top of the cliff. A set of rickety-looking stairs led down twisting in a giant spiral leading down into the darkness.

"I will go first," Viktor announced as he stepped to the top of the stair.

The Bulgarian wizard led off down the stairs. Cedric motioned for Fleur to go next. The Hufflepuff planned on bringing up the rear. He doubted Harry and his friends really had anything truly dangerous in the Task, but he reckoned on making sure nothing came up behind them.

The trio had descended forty feet down. The stairs felt fragile and trembled as the teenagers moved down. Streams of dust soon filled the air as the stairs pulled at their supports. All too soon, the spiralling stairs and a slight angle of the cave's shaft soon blocked out the sunlight. The three Champions made their way down the stairs now with their wands out and holding a _Lumos_ spell.

Fleur felt a chill descend into her bones as she followed Viktor down the stairs. It felt like they had already descended further than the cliff face they'd risen over. She idly wondered how deep the cave went.

Then she noticed that the light coming from behind her from Cedric's wand was gone. In shock, she turned around to check on the English wizard, but he was nowhere to be seen.

"Cedric?" she called out. There was no response. "Viktor! Cedric is…" Fleur turned to face the Bulgarian wizard only to see only the inky blackness at the limit of her spell's light.

A lessor witch would have yelled out in panic with the disappearance of her two male companions. Fleur took a series of long slow breaths to calm the sudden adrenalin spike that shot through her body on the disappearance her two missing friends. As her heart settled, Fleur started down the stairs again.

Fleur approached what appeared to be a landing with something of relief. A lone torch burned dimly in a sconce but it was enough to cut through some of the cave's gloom. Yet that relief was short lived as the dank chill of the cave ratcheted up sharply. Fleur felt a fear she'd never known before. It was as though everyone she'd ever loved - everyone she'd ever known – was lost to her. Images of her parents, her little sister Gabriella floated past her eyes as corpses. She wanted to simply curl up and cry forever.

Then through her tears she saw a small cave opening in the rock wall. Thick but rusty looking iron bars blocked off the cave. Trapped on the other side was a hideous, unmistakable creature.

A dementor.

Fleur forced her brain to think. Her Defence class covered the fowl creatures. They'd discussed the casting of the Patronus Charm to defend against the beasts but never did so as no dementor had been sighted in France in over 300 years. It had only been an academic discussion so Fleur never bothered with learning the spell on her own. Yet the bars prevented the creature from approaching her or stopping her passage. It would only be her own fear that would stop her.

Forcing herself to her feet (she didn't remember kneeling down), Fleur pushed forward cursing her laziness in not learning the Patronus Charm. The landing was wide enough that Fleur never had to come within ten feet of the creature. Fleur steeped quickly past the creature's barred prison staying as far over as the platform allowed and to the stairs beyond.

The stairs continued to drop into the darkness. Now water dripped from the cave walls adding to the damp air a musky, decayed smell. Fleur was just beginning to feel better after the dementor when she saw another torch ahead. The added chill in the air left her no doubt what waited ahead.

This platform was a third less the width of the first with the dementor trapped like the last. The smaller platform meant she would have to pass that much closer to the creature. The dementor had managed to get one skeletal arm through the bars and grasped desperately in Fleur's direction.

Fleur screwed up her courage and rushed past the dementor dodging the swing arm as she past.

The Veela witch dropped to her knees just past the creature and started sobbing uncontrollably. Running had gotten her past the creature but it meant its power had hit her all at once. Fleur forced herself to crawl further away - down the stairs – away from the creature's power.

Fleur didn't know how she could go on. But how could she stop? There was nowhere to go. Her only option was to continue down, out of this damnable Pit of Despair. She wrapped her mind around that thought as she shuffled her feet forward and down the stairs.

It was no surprise when she reached a third platform. Like the last, this dementor had one arm through the bars. But unlike the last, this platform was almost narrow enough for it to reach the railing on the other side of the platform.

Fleur cast a quick spell on the floor, followed by another. Then she steeled her courage and ran forward down the stairs. Just before reaching the dementor's cave she dropped to her knees and slid down the icy path her spells and the creature's own cold created.

She was almost past when the creature managed to grasp a handful of the witch's long blonde hair. Fleur let out a scream of fear and pain as the creature tugged at her hair. Fleur grabbed the nearby railing to stop from being pulled back. Her other hand reached back to grab her hair and pull back reducing the pressure and pain. Fortunately, dementors possessed little physical strength and Fleur was able to pull free of the creature's grasp.

Fleur dragged herself up off the floor and away from the dementor. The creature's effect was waning when a new sight appeared. This was two torches burning brightly on either side of a stout-looking wooden door. While this was something unknown, at least it wasn't another dementor. Fleur reached out and grabbed the door handle. The door swung easily and silently open.

The room beyond was filled with light and a warm breeze came from the wide windows that let in the sunshine. On a pedestal in the room's centre was the Tri-Wizard Cup. Fleur stood in disbelief as she stared at the cup. She'd won? In a haze of shock, Fleur stepped forward and grasped the arm of the cup.

-XI-

The crowd was thinning as most made their way to Hogsmeade for the public festival celebrating the Tri-Wizard Tournament's conclusion. The VIPs and champions' parents went with the students up to Hogwarts for the school's celebration banquet and to officially award Fleur as the Tri-Wizard Champion.

Harry was glad the French witch had won. After getting to know her over the winter holidays, he'd come to realize the French Veela had a massive insecurity complex because of the way she looked. She _expected_ people to not take her seriously because of her looks … and _feared _they were right that she wasn't a real witch. Maybe this would give her a confidence boast.

Most of the third task had been a trick of some sort. The eels were transfigured Selkies. Selkies resembled large seals but had human-level intelligence and often lived in conjunction with Mer-colonies. Selkies did however retain the seals' sense of mischievous humour and were more than happy to help out. The Acromantulas were quite real but had been paid off in whole cows _before_ the contest ever began. The Banshees and their cousins were illusions coupled with WWW product that created a Confundus-type effect.

The 'Dementors were a single Bogart trapped in the Dementor shape by a spell they had found in the Black Library. The Pit had been something like a Muggle treadmill. Each Champion continued down their own "path" until it was their turn to face the 'Dementor'. The platform shrank with each encounter. Viktor failed to get past the first one. He was the last of the Champions to encounter the 'first' dementor and came too close to it. The creature grabbed him and made to kiss him when his portkey activated. Cedric got past the second trial but couldn't bring himself to face the third dementor. He tried but the fear was too great.

Now Fleur was receiving her accolades as she deserved. The students from all three schools were celebrating. Fleur looked relieved it was over but the glare she gave Harry said there would be paybacks sometime in the future.

"Ya handled yon Malfoy brat too kindly, boy," a rough voice interrupted Harry's thoughts. "Should have let the eels 'ave'em! But the thing with the giant spiders was a treat too in my book." Harry turned to see Filch standing behind him with an evil smile on his face.

"Should've tortured the little shit some more if you asked me. Deserves it … 'im and his worthless father."

Harry merely nodded and said, "I'm glad you enjoyed it. Now if you'll excuse me, I am needed at the castle." Harry turned to continue of his way to the castle. He could see Padma and the rest of his friends ahead waiting for him.

"Afraid you're not going to make that party, Potter." A hand suddenly grabbed Harry's right bicep. "The master has need of you."

Harry felt the sudden jerking of an activated portkey and then nothing.


	14. Grave Errors

**A/N: Thank you to every one for the wonderful reviews and comments on the last chapter. So far this story has averaged about 110 reviews per chapter – mostly positive. Some with constructive criticism but almost no flames. That is awesome. So thank you again. I went looking on other forums for comments / areas for improvement. The guys on DLP **_**hate**_** this story – and don't seem too fond of me either. But that is okay. To each his/her own. I appreciate those of you that enjoy this story and help me in my efforts to improve.**

**Grave Errors**

The scene at Hogwarts was panicked with Harry's disappearance. Padma and Ron both saw Filch walk up to Harry and activate a portkey. Padma screamed "Harry!" instantly calling attention to her and drawing people in. Ron turned and ran towards where the stage for the Third Task stood. Sirius and Remus were there and would be the best people to help.

The Aurors already had a heavy presence and in minutes the area was blocked off and Ministry officials shouted orders and professors tried to calm their students.

Fudge could only see a public relations nightmare. Those blasted mirrors were relaying the entire event all over Britain and the rest of Europe. It was bad enough that his peers from the French, German, Bulgarian, and the ICW were present to see the loss of one of Britain's icons, but one of those new-fangled crystals caught the whole thing! However was controlling the mirrors was replaying it over and over again! It was maddening! He had to get control over this before his image was ruined!

Almost immediately after that thought, a squad of Aurors arrived. Floating behind them was a black bag that had been sealed up.

"It's Filch," the lead Auror reported. "He's been dead for some time but it took the old bastard some to do it. He must have been tortured for months before giving in. Died at least a month ago - definitely not our kidnapper." The Auror sounded respectful talking about what the old squib had endured.

"Are you sure?" Fudge asked. "It had to be him. Potter's girlfriend saw him take Potter away." The Auror's glower made Fudge cringe away. Fudge actually felt relieved when he saw Amelia Bones approaching followed by Black with his half-breed wife and werewolf friend.

"Amelia, what have you found?" Fudge asked.

The Head of the DMLE looked grim. "No sign of Potter. We couldn't get a trace on the portkey used by our suspect. The school wards were contracted to just cover the school due to the portkeys given to protect the champions. It made sense to do that but it is a bloody hindrance on us now. We have teams out on brooms now sweeping the immediate area in case it was a short range transport."

A sudden pop interrupted Bone's report. An elf dressing in an odd looing uniform stood now between Fudge and Bones.

"Dobby sends Broom Elves out to look for Harry Potter Sir too. Harry Potter Sir is alive but Dobby can't find him." The elf glared up at the witches and wizards. "Harry Potter Sir is in danger. He must be found NOW!" Fudge had never before seen an elf looking that angry or be that assertive before. And he wasn't the only one looking shocked. Amelia and the other Aurors look just as surprised as Fudge himself felt.

"Dobby is Harry's friend and personal elf," Sirius supplied. Even Dobby's appearance failed to lighten his mood with his godson missing.

"I've never seen such devotion in an elf before," Amelia muttered. "Do you think the elves can really find Potter?"

Fudge was made even more uncomfortable by the glitter in Black's eyes than he was by the wizard's answer. "Even if they have to take the whole island down to the bedrock to do it."

-I-

Harry slowly felt the return to consciousness. The combined effect of the portkey and the Stunning Spell left Harry with a low-grade headache that felt rather like a mild hangover. His Beast-enhanced physiology was quickly recovering and he could feel the headache lessen even as he became aware of his surroundings.

He was in a grave yard shackled to a large, granite gravestone with his back to the stone and his arms attached to either side. The heavy iron manacles that encased his wrists were too solid even for the Beast to break. Plus there was a good chance they were magically enhanced. The chains were just as solid and seemed magically bound to the granite with some type of sticking charm. Harry doubted he could free himself with physical force. Harry reached for his wand in its normal holster but was not surprised to find it missing. So no magic was going to free him right now either.

Harry took stock of the area around him. The graveyard sat down in a hollow between some large hills and he could hear the slight sounds of a brook flowing nearby. The graveyard seemed to still be in some use but based on the dates on the few stones around him that he could see, this section had filled up sometime in the 1940's. The sod over the grave on which he stood was thick but somewhat wild and overgrown like it had not seen a clipping in some time. Harry did notice that there were torches set in sconces attached to some of the tombs. These looked new and the torches fresh.

Directly across from Harry was a small 'park' area. It was an open grassy area with a pair of benches that had clearly seen better days. But what caught Harry's attention were four circles burnt into the grass. One circle, larger than the others, sat in the middle of the clearing. The three smaller circles were like small moons circling a planet but were equidistant from each other. Harry didn't know what the circles were for but it made him nervous for some reason.

Perched on a hill some distance away were the electric lights of a small Muggle village. It was still light enough that the buildings were somewhat visible but a few street lights were already on. It had been about 17.00 when the Tournament's closing ceremony ended and by now the sun was below the horizon from Harry's vantage point. Harry guessed he'd been unconscious for at least an hour.

Harry cursed under his breath. 'I should have worn one of the recording crystals,' he thought. Not only would Sirius and Remus have been able to track him and see what was going on around Harry, but they were connected to the portkeys used by the champions.

A sound behind him made Harry tense. Someone was coming up behind him.

"Ah, Mr Potter. You are awake."

A man stepped out from behind Harry. He looked to be in his mid-30's and wore the black cloak of a Death Eater with the hood thrown back. A silver mask peeked out of a pocket at his side. The man looked like a normal person but his eyes burned with fanaticism.

"I've so wanted to meet you … formally I mean. After all, I've been watching you all year. Such a fascinating person. I can see why My Lord is so interested in you."

"Who are you?" Harry asked. "Obviously you are not Filch." The Death Eater chuckled.

"Oh Morgana, no. I hated that man worse than I did my father. Worthless little squib – always scurrying about looking for scraps from his betters' table and hissing worthless threats against the students. Killing him and that damn cat of his was a beautiful thing." To Harry's disgust the man said it with an almost sexual satisfaction.

"I'd thought of going after Mad-Eye – oh the irony of that! Dear old Uncle Alastor! He was the one that arrested me you know. Taught me to fly a broom and then sent me off to Azkaban. But My Lord and I decided it was too much of a gamble. What if I failed to subdue poor uncle? Mad-eye is many things but an incompetent dueller he is not. So we decided to go for the pathetic, invisible squib. I did stop by though to set off Uncle's wards and traps. Made him look the paranoid delusional he really is when the Ministry showed up to see what the fuss was all about.

"Once at Hogwarts, no one took notice of me. Not even Uncle or Dumbledore. After all, everyone knows a squib is no danger to a wizard! And no one missed having Filch around much so there was no suspicion when I drank my Polyjuice Potion. You ruined my simple plan with your little ward, Harry. I was quite angry but forgave you after I saw you diverted my target to that spawn-of-a-coward into trouble. I really did enjoy the chaos you created. Most entertainment I've had in years. But I wanted to make you the centre of attention, not the Malfoy spawn. After all, you are the one seen as being responsible for the Master's downfall not that little twit. Oh, but I had to be oh-so-subtle! A word here about Hogwarts's poor showing in the duels, and another one here about the Third Task needing to be better. And you can through perfectly! So now here you are!"

Harry had decided halfway through the wizard's monologue that the man was completely unhinged.

"Who are you? Harry interrupted the man.

The man made to act embarrassed. "Oh, but of course. Where are my manners? I am Barty Crouch. Junior actually but since dear father was shoved from this mortal coil I am the only one remaining."

Harry vaguely remembered Padfoot mentioning the wizard in reference to his own father sentencing him to Azkaban. Most of the talk was about Crouch Sr. simply throwing Sirius into prison without a trial and the case of the man's son was simply an example of Couch Sr's fanatical behaviour. It appeared the apple didn't fall far from the tree.

"And why did you do all this?" Harry asked.

"Why to cause chaos of course." Barty answered with a grin. "The Ministry was so busy dealing with the Tri-tri Wizard Tournament that it didn't have time to worry about the little things – you know – a disappearance here, a little robbery there. I doubt they've even realized Master's wand has gone missing from their trophy case!" The man giggled in enjoyment.

"My plan was to simply put you into the Tournament as a distraction and to prove your worth as the Master's nemesis. But you took it to a whole new level! Brilliant! But since I still wanted you to prove your worth I needed to create all new challenges for you. Naughty, naughty Harry! But even Master was impressed with your stand against your entire year. Why, he as much as admitted that he would have been hard pressed to duplicate such a feat at fourteen!"

"Enough, Barty," a new voice said. Barty looked affronted at the interruption until he turned and saw what the man carried. Harry looked over to see someone he'd never expected again.

Wormtail

Peter held what looked like a small child in his arms. Peter looked much thinner than the last time Harry saw him. The former Marauder now was much thinner than during the encounter in the Shrieking Shack and wore robes that while older seemed to have been well-maintained. The 'child' in his arms glared at Harry with a green, vaguely reptilian look to its skin and features.

"Hello, Harry. It is nice to see you again."

Harry fought both to keep the Beast supressed and his voice calm. "Peter," he responded.

"Ahh, yes," Peter said with a sad smile.

"Put me down, Wormtail," the 'child' said in a sibilant voice. The man complied instantly. The small figure stepped closer to Harry.

"Hello, Harry Potter. See what you have reduced me to!"

"Tom, is that you?" Harry asked with a grin that was only half forced. Yes, he was not in a good situation but the snake-child looked ridiculous.

The 'child' glared at the hated name. "How do you know that name?" he demanded.

"Malfoy was responsible for me finding out," Harry answered. "Never trust a family named 'Bad Faith'." Tom looked furious at Harry's answer. Technically it was even true. Lucius Malfoy's planting of the diary led to Harry's knowledge.

"I shall deal with my servant later – the same time I deal with your impertinence. But first, you shall be witness to the greatest feat of magic in a thousand years! You- an infant- managed to destroy my body through a fluke of magic. So it is only fitting that you shall be both a witness to my rebirth and the first victim of my new reign!"

Harry felt an involuntary shiver at the figure's words. Now he knew how Han felt at the end of Empire Strikes Back.

The figure ignored Harry now and slowly made its way across the small park to stand in the centre of the largest circle. "Barty, call the participants now."

"Yes, master," Barty answered before moving quickly out of sight. The figure knelt down and seemed to meditate.

"Hello Harry," Wormtail said again as he approached the bound boy. "You look well. Living with Sirius seems to agree with you. Much better than your Muggle relatives, eh?"

Harry ignored the small talk. "How did you get out, traitor?" Peter smiled.

"Come now, Harry! Surely you've heard enough of the Marauders to know we all had our roles. Remus was the academic brains, Sirius the brawn, James the heart, and I … I was the eyes. Any information or item we needed, it was my job to procure. Any place Sirius could escape from I can assure you I could as well."

"They told me you were in a cell that supressed your animagus form."

"And I was. Can I tell you a little secret? The DMLE might have great warders but horrible locksmiths. A ten-year-old Muggle with a paperclip could have unlocked that cell. I simply dropped one of the long-term prisoners into my cell so it was occupied. Once out of my cell I could change to my animagus form. The Dementors and the few Aurors on the island were no real challenge to avoid on my escape. But in my short stay I learnt that my old friend wasn't the first to escape. The others told me of Barty's replacement by his father. So once I escaped it was child's play to find him." The man smiled. "In a very real way, Harry, you are responsible for today. Without you saving me to go to Azkaban I would have never learnt of Barty's escape and been able to help the Master. So thank you!"

The man laughed. This was a very different Wormtail then the cringing, scared man in the Shrieking Shack. This man fit the few stories Remus had told of the cunning and brave Gryffindor boy that joined in the Marauders' adventures. Peter seemed to follow Harry's thoughts.

"A bit different then I was a year ago, no?" The traitor laughed. "Twelve years of living almost continuously as a rat took their toll. I was depressed with losing James and Lily for no reason with the Master's defeat. So I ate and slept for more than a decade. That kind of thing takes a toll on your brain, Harry."

"Don't you say their names, traitor," Harry growled. The Beast was just under the surface now.

Wormtail stepped up to look Harry in the eye. Harry could see a burning hate and fanaticism there now. "I loved James as my brother. Lily was the big sister that would help anyone. She was an example of all that a Mudblood could be if they shed that base world off. But you … you were a threat to the Master. He needed you dead. I could have done it- saved poor James and Lily with just a few drops of poison in your juice. But the Master insisted it had to be by his hand; that you were some kind of equal to him. So it was because of you that I had to betray my brother and sister."

Harry was shocked that Pettigrew would try to blame him for the older wizard's betrayal of his friends.

"You betrayed them long before you helped kill them!" Harry growled back. "They fought against everything your Master believed in. They thought you supported them. They trusted you and you took that trust and betrayed it every day since you took his mark on your arm."

Pettigrew looked murderous now. However his response was stopped by the return of Barty Crouch. The Death Eater was followed by three other people. The first was a much older man also wearing Death Eater robes with the hood thrown back. Next, was a middle-aged witch wearing a simple grey robe. Following her was a boy Harry's age that he recognized. It was Theodore Nott.

"Potter," his Slytherin classmate sneered. "I always said you should be chained up. Now look at you." Harry held his tongue. He was more interested in ripping out Wormtail's throat then dealing with this little pimple on Hogwarts's arse.

"Soon, Potter," Nott tried to taunt in his most threatening voice. "Soon my family shall be exalted above all others! The Dark Lord has promised this to my father. You and Malfoy will be dust at my feet."

A sharp cuff to the head silenced the boy. "Hold your tongue, boy," the old wizard demanded. If you are to serve the Master, keep silent and know your place."

"Yes, father."

The man turned to Harry. "Mr Potter, Alvin Nott at your service. A long time ago I was friends and a business associate with your grandfather. You favour him as did your father. It is too bad you ended up on the losing side but it is the fate of the Wizarding World that is at stake."

"Come to me now, my oldest servant," Voldemort called in his hissing voice from his place in the centre circle. The small figure remained kneeling in the same position even as he spoke.

"Yes, Master," the eldest Nott answered instantly. He turned to comply – Harry completely forgotten. The wizard motioned to his wife and son to follow.

"Alvin Nott, you shall stand at the top of the circle." Nott moved to the smaller circle facing the small figure.

"Persephone Nott, you shall take the circle to my left hand." The witch looked nervous but instantly complied.

"Theodore Nott, you shall take the circle to my right hand." Theo strutted forward full of confidence.

"Thank you my servants. Indeed the Nott family will stand unparalleled in the ranks of my Death Eaters for all time for their commitment to the cause. Now we shall begin."

Theodore Nott took one last chance to shot Harry a smug grin as Voldemort started to chant in a rhythmic pace. Harry couldn't understand the language and something told him he was better off not knowing. Soon the three members of the Nott family were standing in the same position with their heads tilted back and arms dangling loosely at their sides. They started swaying slightly in their positions. Harry was so focused on the ritual that he barely noticed when Peter and Barty moved to positions behind some of the nearby tomb stones.

Voldemort stopped his chant but the sound of it continued to linger in the evening air. It was hard for Harry to describe but it was like the very sounds were trapped within the light breezes moving through the graveyard. The tiny figure now stood up and faced the elder Nott male. It raised its skinny arms, saying:

"Magic of the servant – you shall sustain your master!"

At Tom's final words the circle at the elder Nott's feet lit up with strange runes. As the light grew brighter, Nott Senior started to scream in agony as an odd white mist started to flow from the small circle to Voldemort's larger one. His wife and son ignored his screams and continued to sway rhythmically in their place in the circles. Alvin Nott gave a final scream and then collapsed to the ground. The white mist swirled around inside the confines of the circle.

Now the figure turned to face the Persephone Nott. Again, it raised its arms. In a much deeper voice, it said:

"Wife of the servant – you shall give life to your master!"

Now it was the witch's turn to scream. But where her husband's mist was white, now it was a green mist that glowed in the torch light. In a short time that seemed like forever, she too collapsed to the ground. Now the green mist swirled in with the white – intertwined but not mixed.

The figure now turned to Theodore Nott. Harry's classmate was still oblivious to the fate of his parents. The figure raised its arms for a third time.

"Child of the servant – you shall give flesh to your master!"

Theodore's fate was even worse than his parents. A red mist wafted off the boy wizard and as it did, his flesh decayed before the witnesses' eyes. What fell to the ground was a bare blackened skeleton.

The white, green, and red mists swirled around the small figure in an increasing vortex. But somehow Harry could clearly hear the Dark Lord's next words.

"Gifts of the servants – restore your master to the mortal plane!"

The mists emitted a bright glow each in their own colour. It was so bright for a moment it hurt to look directly at it. Then the glow subsided. Harry looked for the small figure in the circle. But that is not what he saw.

Standing in the figure's place was an adult version of the teenager Harry met in the Chamber of Secrets. The same dark hair and build – a handsome man of middle years. Harry was in shock. The man standing naked with his back to Harry looked perfectly normal from what he could see.

"Robe me, Wormtail," the man commanded. Peter scurried over to the man and wrapped a fine silk robe around his body. The man fastened up the front of the robe and then turned to Harry. Voldemort made a casual gesture and the torches all lit.

Across the now lit distance, Harry could see the face of the 16 year-old boy he'd met two years ago in the man in front of him. But his skin had a greenish caste to it and something about his features suggested a snake. But it was the eyes that were different. Even in the torch light Harry could see a red glow to the man's eyes.

"Hello, Harry Potter, it is good to finally meet again properly after so many years."

"Well, forgive me if I don't shake your hand," Harry responded sarcastically. Voldemort laughed.

"So much like your father, Harry. He would have been proud of you. Three times I offered him a place by my side. The Potters are distantly related to the Slytherin family and he would have held a position of honour in my organization. I would have even accepted his Mudblood wife. It is power and ability that matters most and I see myself as a practical man. But he threw each offer in my face much the same way you just did. Too much Dumbledore's man to see the opportunity in front of him."

"Dumbledore has nothing to do with it," Harry shot back. "Maybe it is the Potters refuse to kneel down to a want-to-be dictator looking for revenge for having been raised in a Muggle orphanage!" Voldemort hand smashed out across Harry's face, stunning him.

"What would you know of it you arrogant little wizardling! Muggles have no place interacting with the Wizarding world. They are like a virus infesting the planet – destroying everything that touch or fail to understand!"

"Thanks to you I know all too much what Muggles can be like," Harry responded. "My relatives made it all too clear what they thought of magic. Of course their hatred extended to people of other nationalities, religions, political opinion, and sexual orientation. But you are no different – you just replace magic with non-magic and nothing changes."

To Harry's surprise, Voldemort chuckled. "And there is your mother in you. How touching. But soon it won't matter. Wormtail, give me your arm."

At the Dark Lord's demand, Peter offered his bared left arm. The Dark Mark was a vivid black even in the torch light. Voldemort touched it with his wand and an instant later a magical pulse rippled out from the mark. That done, the wand disappeared up his sleeve and he turned back to Harry.

"My servants shall be here shortly and then not long after your time with us will be at an end young Potter. Until then, I suggest you try to relax and enjoy the beautiful night sky." The statement that this would be his last night went unsaid but well heard. With that he turned and walked away- Peter and Barty following close on his heels.

-II-

Over the next ten minutes the Death Eaters started to appear in the graveyard. They all Apparated in with near silent cracks in the air. All wore the black robes with silver masks. Most of the masks were plain while a few had designs that looked like Celtic runes that were unique to each mask. When he saw Barty and Peter put on their masks and saw the same types of marks, he guessed that these were Tom's inner circle or elite fighters. Harry counted upwards of twenty-five Death Eaters. Most were men but he guessed five were witches based on what he could see with the heave robes they wore. Six of them, including Wormtail and Barty, wore the marked masks.

When the Death Eaters appeared they stood motionless and waited patiently. Without a word to each other they simply moved to a position in a semi-circle around the large ritual circle but leaving the end open that faced Harry. He could feel their gazes on him but no one said anything. Harry tried to yell at them but found that some magic held his tongue.

Voldemort suddenly moved out of the shadows to stand in the centre of the clearing. The Death Eaters all dropped to kneel before their master. Harry could somehow sense the shock of the cloaked terrorists at the sight of the restored Dark Lord. Voldemort's new body looked no more than middle aged – not the eighty plus year-old body that was expected.

"My faithful servants, I have returned." The tone was quiet but powerful.

"My Lord, how is this possible?" a masked Death Eater asked. Harry suspected that it was Lucius Malfoy from the voice. A suspicion Voldemort quickly confirmed.

"Ah, Lucius, my slippery friend. How is this possible? I have journeyed further on the path of Immortality that any have before me. I made a miscalculation thirteen years ago that saw the loss of my physical form. I was left a wraith. And where were my faithful servants?" The Death Eaters all started proclaiming their faithful allegiance to their master.

"Enough." Voldemort' s quiet word brought all of their protests to a halt. "Do you take Lord Voldemort for a fool? I have seen my 'devoted' followers running to protect their own positions – declaring they were forced into my service. I may not have had a physical form but that has not stopped me from watching. Only a very few of you have shown the ultimate loyalty. The Lestranges and young Barty Crouch went to Azkaban in my name; arrested while searching for me. For the rest of you, you shall have to find some way of earning yourselves back into my good graces. Especially you, Lucius my _ever-faithful_ servant." Harry would have felt bad about the pain coming the elder Malfoy's way but the arse deserved everything he got.

The Death Eaters now knelt even lower. Harry was surprised they hadn't protested their value but Voldemort merely nodded as if that was the reaction he'd expected.

"I give to you Alvin Nott as an example of the devotion I expect of you. Nott recognized his failure and offered all he had to restore me to my rightful place. The Nott family shall forever now be known as standing in the forefront of my servants." The Death Eaters seemed to be glancing around trying to spot where their Lord's new favourite servant was standing. Then Voldemort continued, "Nott has surrendered his life along with that of his wife and only son – the very future of the Noble family of Nott – to restore me."

Harry could see that shook the Death Eaters. The old Purebloods families placed a high value on their family history and ensuring their place in the future. To hear one of their number had destroyed their own family struck them at their core.

Voldemort turned now from his followers to glare at Harry. "Now, for our guest-of-honour. Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived. As the only witness of my fall, it is only right that he would be here to witness my return! "The Death Eaters murmured their agreement.

Voldemort now sported an evil grin. "As my last target, he shall have the honour of being the first in my Second Rise to fall to my wand!" The Death Eaters laughed and cheered this announcement.

"Wormtail, release Potter and give him his wand," Voldemort ordered.

Peter moved over to Harry and made a motion with his wand. The shackles instantly released. The sudden release caused Harry to wince in pain as his arms dropped down and blood started to flow freely through his arms again. Peter watched without any expression while Harry rubbed out his arms. Then he softly tossed Harry's wand at Harry's feet.

"Die well, Harry," Peter murmured. "I know you'll make your parents proud. I'm sorry." Harry ignored the traitor as he bent to pick up his wand. He felt instant warmth as his wand slipped into his hand. Peter moved away and Harry looked up towards Voldemort.

The Dark Lord had moved back a bit to a regulation duelling range. He was watching Harry with an arrogant indifference. Harry winced mentally. Of course he was arrogant. He'd beat everyone that had come against him with a wand. Even Dumbledore had only been able to hold him to a stalemate.

"Now, Harry, bow to me. Bow to your death."

"Go stuff yourself."

Voldemort lost his amused expression at Harry's rude rebuttal. "Imperio! You will now bow to me!"

Harry felt the spell slipping around in his head. A voice whispered to him to bow. It was much harder than Moody's spell. The voice was more insistent.

"Never!" Harry yelled as he broke the curse's hold.

The anger fled from Tom's face to be replaced with disappointment. "Such a waste. Time to die Harry." Without another word, the Dark Lord switched into duelling mode. A silent, yellow spell shot towards Harry. Harry managed to get a shield up that blocked the unknown spell. The shield managed to hold but the force of the impact actually managed to knock Harry back a bit. Voldemort gave a grudging nod of approval before firing off another spell.

Harry was almost entirely defensive as the spells flew fast and hot. He managed to block several and dodged the rest. He managed to fire off a Blasting Curse and a Jelly-Brain Jinx. The Blasting Curse hit at the Dark Lord's feet showing him with bits of sod, dirt, and rocks but did no real damage. The jinx was contemptuously swatted away by the Dark Lord's shield.

The Death Eaters had been cheering the fight like Hogwarts students at a Quidditch match. It was one of them in their excitement that gave Harry his chance.

Hector Depalma came from an old, but poor Pureblood family. He blamed the Muggle-born for the failure of his family's fortunes. There was nothing specific but he was sure there was a conspiracy against his House. His father was an early Death Eater and paid for Hector's Hogwarts education with plunder from raids on Muggle-born and Blood Traitors. The elder Depalma was killed by Aurors only a month before the Dark Lord's fall. The Depalma family money quickly disappeared once again. Hector blamed the Muggle-born and Harry Potter for their decline. For Hector Depalma, the Dark Lord's return meant Galleons for him and his family.

Now the Master was ready to kill the hated Harry Potter. Hector just wanted a piece of the brat before the Master finished him.

Harry dove to avoid a Killing Curse and landed to roll back up to his feet. Some instinct warned him a moment before the blow landed. Harry snatched the Death Eater's arm in a firm grip and heaved the man over his shoulder. Voldemort screamed in outrage that one of his servants interrupted his fight. Hector was in a daze as he tried to stand up but was tangled in his robe. His struggles ended as the Dark Lord's Killing Curse took him. The Death Eaters cheered again.

Harry took the opportunity and looked for a way out but he saw Peter and Barty blocking the way behind him.

"You have done well, Harry," Voldemort announced. "But the game is over now. No more tricks."

Harry had to grin. "Well, maybe one more trick." An instant later where a boy stood now stood a creature out of nightmare. It resembled a werewolf but was more wolf than man for all it walked on two legs. But Voldemort and his Death Eaters never had a chance to take in the details as the creature fell on them.

One massive clawed paw swung out to dig deeply into a Death Eater's side as the other gripped his neighbour by the neck and gave a sharp jerk. Another was bitten in the thigh and a woman's shriek joined the chorus of screams. It was mass confusion as the giant black creature moved in the darkness fighting though the one side of the ring on Death Eaters.

Voldemort was screaming orders that were ignored in the confusion. Mixed in with his Death Eaters, Tom didn't have a clear shot at the creature the Potter boy turned into. "Alive! I want him alive!" Voldemort screamed out.

Suddenly, the Potter creature was right there in front of him. Voldemort' s wand came up inhumanely fast as the tip glowed green with a Killing Curse. But the Beast was faster. The Beast swiped a paw at the Dark Lord's throat intent on ripping it out. Voldemort managed to avoid most of the swipe but the Basilisk-poison tipped claws dug in deep just nicking the carotid artery. Feeling the blood and the sudden burning sensation, Voldemort instantly Apparated away.

Seeing their Master flee, many of the Death Eaters followed him in their shock and fear.

The Beast surveyed the scene from a dark corner. His lungs were heaving as the adrenalin pumped through his body. He felt some slight pain from his 'duel' with Voldemort and he was sure he'd taken some damage as he fought through the Death Eaters but for now he could barely feel it. Instead, he looked out into the graveyard and considered his next move.

He could hear some Death Eaters moaning in their pain. A few more black lumps lay motionless on the ground. Harry knew he couldn't stay here. The Death Eaters could be back at any time.

The Beast moved stealthy through the disturbed graveyard towards the distant village. Hopefully they would have some way for him to get back to Hogwarts.

-III-

Harry was approaching the boundaries of the small village. He'd reverted to his human form so as not to be seen by the normal inhabitants of the village. He was battered and bruised. His clothing was torn in several places from his transformation and the ensuing fight. (He was rather jealous of the regular animagi that transfigured with their clothes intact.)

Harry was just up to the first house in the village when a small voice asked, "Harry Potter Sir?" Harry turned and started to raise his wand when the words and the sight in front of him caught up with Harry's brain. It was an elf on one of the brooms from the task. The elf was wearing the uniform the Marauders created for the elves in their employ. Harry instantly lowered his wand.

"Gippy is so happy to be seeing Harry Potter Sir! Harry Potters' Dobby has been very worried!" Harry had to smile as he slumped exhausted against a nearby wall.

"I'm happy to see you too, Gippy. Can you take me back to Hogwarts now?"

Gippy nodded rapidly his agreement. "Gippy be doing that now, Harry Potter Sir. Take Gippy's hand." Harry thankfully took the elf's hand and with a pop they were gone from the village of Little Hangleton.

-IV-

Gippy took Harry directly to the Hospital Ward - scaring Madam Pomfrey in the process. She was simply unprepared for a bleeding and bruised Harry to appear with an elf on a broomstick. Gippy then immediately popped away to give Dobby the news. Ten seconds later, Harry's friend had arrived.

"Dobby tell the Dogfather and Fluffy Uncle that Harry Potter Sir is safe and with Scary Healer."

"Thanks, Dobby. And thank the flying rescue squad too," Harry said as the Pomfrey settled him onto a bed. A few flicks of her wand saw Harry's clothes gone save for his shorts and she was soon shoving potions into him.

"Harry Potter Sir is welcome. Dobby will always be there to help Harry Potter Sir."

"Can you get me out of here?" Harry asked plaintively drawing a glare from the Healer.

Dobby shrugged. "Sorry Harry Potter Sir. Some things even Elf Magic can't do." Then he popped away as Harry laughed. Pomfrey snickered at Dobby's response.

"Strange elf, that one."

Harry laughed again. "Dobby is one of a kind."

Harry almost needed medical attention again when the horde of people stormed into the Hospital Ward. The Marauders were in the front followed closely by Harry's friends, school officials, and government officials of several varieties. Everyone was asking if he was okay, demanding answers to shouted questions, and otherwise just making a lot of noise.

A cannon blast silenced the room.

"Enough!" Madam Pomfrey announced in a dangerous voice. "I have other patients here than Mr Potter. Mr Potter is physically okay but did need some medical treatment. He is staying here for the night for observation. Now, I give you ten minutes before you are all out of here! Understood?!" The crowd was cowed by the Healer's display. Most of them were Hogwarts students or alumni and were intimidated by the stern woman.

"Thank you, Poppy," Dumbledore said with a sly smile. Then he turned to Harry.

"Mr Potter, what can you tell us of your ordeal? We know that it was not Mr Filch that took you from Hogwarts."

Harry nodded. "He said his name was Barty Crouch Jr."

"That is impossible!" Fudge protested. "Barty Jr died in Azkaban more than ten years ago!"

"Well, that is who he said he was," Harry shot back. "I didn't say it was him. How would I know? I will tell you one thing for sure. He was there with Peter Pettigrew!"

"Another impossibility!" Fudge howled. "There is no way that man escaped our prison!"

"I did," Sirius commented in a worried tone. "Peter was always a slippery one."

"He said he picked the lock on his cell and left another inmate inside to cover his escape," Harry supplied.

"And do you have any proof of this, Mr Potter?" a stern woman wearing a monocle asked.

"In my pants is a block of wood. Take it out and cancel the transfiguration."

Harry's directions were dutifully carried out. Seconds later, a dead body that was missing the right arm and a large part of its abdominal cavity was on the Ward floor. The left arm was bare and still showed the pitch black Dark Mark in all its horrible glory. The crowd retracted in shock and disgust.

"Is that Barty Crouch Jr?" Harry asked.

"Aye, that's 'im," Moody admitted before taking a shot from his ever-present flask.

"He called you 'Uncle Alastor," Harry told the Defence professor.

Moody took another shot before answering. "My sister's kid. Only family I had left. Well done, lad." Moody looked both saddened and satisfied at the loss of his nephew. Harry wondered if the fanaticism came just from his father's side of the family.

"What did they want Harry?" Dumbledore broke in to ask. "Why did they need to kidnap you?"

Harry heaved a deep breath before saying, "They wanted me to witness their ritual restoring Voldemort to a physical form." Harry looked up at the Headmaster with haunted eyes. "They sacrificed the entire Nott family to do it. But he's back."

"NO! That's not possible!" Fudge shouted as the crowd broke out in pandemonium. "You-Know-Who can't be back! He can't!" Anything else was drowned out as the crowd grew louder in their discussions, arguments, and fears.

None of the adults save the Marauders noticed when Ernie slipped Harry the Potter Invisibility Cloak. Harry quickly slipped out of the Hospital Ward surrounded by his friends and family while the professors and Ministry officials continued to argue.

**A/N: Just a couple of items to the deviation from the canon graveyard scene.**

**The horcrux in Harry was destroyed fighting the lycanthropy, so no connection exists.**

**Since Harry has lived with Sirius for a year at this point, the blood wards would no longer exist so there is no need to design the ritual to bypass them.**

**Besides, Harry never touched Q-Mort his first year at Hogwarts so LV never saw a need to use Harry's blood in the ritual.**

**Harry is there simply as a witness since he was also the only witness to LV's fall.**

**I am bored of the whole flesh\bone\blood ritual!**


End file.
